AB De Villiers' outstanding form of the past season in which he scored four ODI centuries including three in successive matches against India and the West Indies has earned him the ultimate individual award. He is now ranked the No. 1 batsman in the world in the ICC ODI rankings and the only one with more than 800 rankings points.

De Villiers earned the man of the match award for his brilliant century against England in the MTN ODI at Sahara Park Newlands and then made back-to-back centuries against India at Gwalior and Ahmedabad followed by another century in his next match against the West Indies at Antigua.

A fine century from Tillakaratne Dilshan which was ably supported by a quick-fire 71 from his skipper Kumar Sangakkara led Sri Lanka to an imposing 299 for 8 before the bowlers knocked over India for 225, as the hosts notched up a fine win to take the Tri-series title. Dilshan's knock gave Sri Lanka the advantage right at the start and once India lost Virender Sehwag early in their reply, the result was never in any real doubt. India failed to put together any meaningful partnerships and in the end fell woefully short in their unlikely chase.

Playing on probably the best track on offer in the tournament, Sri Lanka went in with an unchanged XI, the same side that humbled India in their final league game. India, on the other hand, included a much needed extra batsman with Rohit Sharma taking the place of the out-of-form all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and had no hesitation in electing to bat first on a pitch he termed as ‘one of the best pitches' of the series.

In a tournament where predicting the winner of a game has been as tough a job as getting an elephant to ride a scooter, India and Sri Lanka face off one final time on the pacy Dambulla track to decide the winner of the tri-series. A look at the form guide of all three teams playing the tournament will tell you that consistency has completely eluded them so much so that teams which have won with a bonus point one day, have conceded the bonus point on another!

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India have had two crushing wins and two equally big losses in the four games they have played, to make it to the finals. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have won two of their four while losing once against India. Their game against New Zealand was washed out.

The PCB have announced the Pakistan squad for the One Day Internationals & Twenty20 Internationals that follow the England Test Series, with Shahid Afridi restored to the helm of affairs. The squad is 16 member strong as the former World Champions look to test out their bowling depth before the Cricket World Cup in February next year. The seven match series includes two T20s and five ODIs against and will commence from the 5th of September.

An interesting side plot to the selection affair is that of captaincy. While it is not unusual for cricket teams to have different skippers for the shorter formats and test cricket, it is indeed rare for the Test captain to be the deputy in ODI squad, while the norm is more often than not the other way around. T20 and ODI captaincy is often seen as the breeding ground for leading the side in the toughest format, i.e. Test cricket, and it remains to be seen how the two skippers co-exist with young Salman Butt once again thrust under the wing of Shahid Afridi.