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MUMBAI: Mahela Jayawardene hit an unbeaten 103 off 88 balls as Sri Lanka set India a stiff target of 275 runs to win the World Cup final at the packed Wankhede stadium on Saturday.
Jayawardene's 14th one-day hundred steered Sri Lanka to 274-6 after skipper Kumar Sangakkara won an important toss and elected to bat on a slow wicket that hampered stroke-making.
Tailenders Nuwan Kulasekara (32 off 30 balls) and Thisara Perera (22 off nine) helped Sri Lanka smash 63 runs in the last five overs of power-play to leave India chasing 5.50 runs an over under lights.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men will begin their reply knowing that seven of the previous nine World Cup finals have been lost by the team batting second.
A sell-out crowd of 33,000, including Indian President Pratibha Patil and Sri Lanka's head of state Mahinda Rajapakse, watched an absorbing contest between bat and ball.
India's left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan dried up the flow of runs at the start and his two wickets made him the tournament's leading bowler alongside Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi with 21 wickets each.
Confusion reigned at the toss, which had to be performed twice after match referee Jeff Crowe did not hear Sangakkara's call when Dhoni threw up the coin.
Zaheer opened with three successive maidens and then struck with the first ball of his fourth over when Virender Sehwag dived to his right in the slips to remove Upul Tharanga for two.
Fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth lifted the pressure by conceding 15 runs in his fifth over that included a no-ball and a warning for running in the danger area in his follow-through.
Sreesanth, who was preferred ahead of spinner Ravichandran Ashwin after Ashish Nehra was ruled out with a fractured finger, was thrashed for 52 runs in his eight overs.
Tillakaratne Dilshan, going into the final as the tournament's leading scorer with 467 runs, made 33 when he was bowled by off-spinner Harbhajan Singh to make Sri Lanka 60-2 in the 17th over.
Sangakkara and Jayawardene put on 62 for the third wicket in 68 balls when Yuvraj Singh broke through by having the skipper caught behind by wicket-keeper Dhoni for 48.
Thilan Samaraweera (21) added 57 for the fourth wicket with Jayawardene when he was given out leg-before through a TV referral after umpire Simon Taufel had negated bowler Yuvraj's appeal.
Star spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who was declared fit to play despite niggling hamstring and knee injuries, will lead the Sri Lanka attack with sling-arm fast bowler Lasith Malinga.
Among the bowlers will also be off-spinner Suraj Randiv, who was officially included in the squad on Friday in place of the injured Angelo Mathews.
Teams batting first have won seven of the nine finals since the inaugural World Cup in 1975.
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Munaf Patel.
Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Kapugedera, Suraj Randiv, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan.
Umpires: Simon Taufel (AUS) and Aleem Dar (PAK) TV umpire: Ian Gould (ENG) Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)
