AFRIDI TOPS PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT TABLE, YUVRAJ SINGH IN HOT PURSUIT

Shahid Afridi leads the race for the Player of the Tournament award but tomorrow's final of the Twenty20 World Cup gives Yuvraj Singh, lone Indian in hot pursuit, yet another chance to pip the Pakistani to the honour.

Afridi has so far polled seven votes to top the table, but there are still four players -- including three of his teammates Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik -- who can catch up with him.

Yuvraj, along with Stuart Clark, Sanath Jayasuriya and Morne Morkel, has garnered six votes.

Afridi is the joint leading wicket-taker -- alongside Australia's Stuart Clark -- with 12 victims, and has also scored rapidly whenever he has reached the batting crease, making 91 runs from just 45 balls faced.

In contrast, Yuvraj's 134 runs came from just 57 balls, giving him the best batting strike-rate of any player with 75 runs or more 235.08 runs per hundred balls.

His total includes 12 sixes, seven during his 16-ball innings of 58 against England that included six maximums in one over from Stuart Broad, and another five in his 70 from just 30 deliveries against Australia in the semi-final.

Malik (187) and Misbah (175) are among the leading run-scorers in the tournament and only Matthew Hayden of Australia, with 265 runs, has more than Malik's total.

HOWZZAT! TWENTY20 WORLD CUP IN WOMEN'S CRICKET

Encouraged by the success and popularity of the Twenty20 World Cup, the Board is seriously considering introduction of the shortest version of the game in women's cricket too.

"BCCI is planning to introduce the shorter version of the game in women's cricket and also trying that Twenty20 World Cup of womens' cricket be organised either before or after the Womens' World Cup, scheduled in England next year", BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah told PTI.

He said the shorter version of the game will not affect one-day or Test match schedules.

"People want something new everytime and there is always a chance of change in the game and BCCI welcomes the change," Shah added.

RAHUL DRAVID SETS HIS SIGHTS ON PROLIFIC ENGLISH SUMMER

He fell five-run shy of a ton in his very first Test some 11 years ago but Team India captain Rahul Dravid still cherishes every moment of his debut match at cricket's traditional and spiritual home, the Lord's.

Dravid was batting on 95 when he edged one to the wicketkeeper and walked in the 1996 Test to see Sourav Ganguly outshine him with a debut ton.

On Thursday, Dravid leads the Indian team in the first Test against England and the stylish right-hander said he had no regrets even though he fell tantalisingly short of becoming the fourth cricketer to score a century on debut at Lord's.

"I couldn't have scripted it better. Just playing for India would have been special, to be honest with you - whether it had been in Chittagong or at Lord's. But for it to have happened at Lord's - really the home of cricket," Dravid told 'Cricinfo' website.

In awe of the venue and its rich history, Dravid said "To have known that so many great cricketers had played at that ground - the tradition, history. They really have maintained the culture and traditions in the ground.

"And whatever people may say, you do feel it. There's something about walking down those steps at Lord's. I do feel it definitely. So for me it was special to have played at Lord's and to have actually done well there. Every time I've gone there, I've always felt nice in some ways." Dravid said playing in England was a dream which, like every aspiring cricketer, he cherished at the bottom of his heart and touring the country was realising that dream.