Pak batting falters to let India enter into Finals

Tags: World Cup 2011, 2nd Semi Final - India v Pakistan at Mohali - Mar 30, 2011, India, Pakistan, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Final, Semi Final

Published on: Mar 31, 2011

Scorecard | Commentary | Graphs

Pakistan Innings Hosts India defeated Pakistan yet again in a World Cup clash and this time it paved their entry into this edition's Finals! It was a 29-run win for India as Pakistan failed to come good with the bat under pressure chasing 261 to end up with 231 all out.

Pakistan Innings
Hosts India defeated Pakistan yet again in a World Cup clash and this time it paved their entry into this edition's Finals! It was a 29-run win for India as Pakistan failed to come good with the bat under pressure chasing 261 to end up with 231 all out. It was a stunning team performance from India with all the five bowlers used chipping in with two wickets each.
Pakistan were off to a decent start until Kamran Akmal got out in the 9th over off Zaheer Khan. India started to slow things down and gradually got the required run rate to increase. Once the ball became softer, the spinners got into play to strangle the scoring rate. Pakistan also started to lose wickets and at one stage slipped to 106 for 4 in the 26th over when Younis Khan drove Yuvraj Singh uppishly to extra covers. Umar Akmal threatened to bail out Pak with his big hits but he lasted only 24 balls scoring 29 before he got bowled off an arm ball from Yuvraj. India managed to get rid of the dangerous duo of Abdul Razzaq and the Pakistani Skipper Shahid Afridi without conceding many runs to get a firm grip on the proceedings.
The Pakistanis were out of the contest virtually at 184 for 7 in the 42nd over when Afridi miscued a Harbhajan Singh full toss high in the air to be caught. Misbah-ul-Haq who was batting cautiously at one end for a long time had struggled to get his runs at a healthy rate which was also the cause of the downfall for Pakistan. In the end, Misbah-ul-Haq played some big hits when the match was almost over to score 56 from 75 balls (with 5 fours and a six) which was only good enough to pull down the margin of defeat. Sachin Tendulkar was given the Man of the Match for his crucial 85. India would meet Sri Lanka in the Finals on April 2nd at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

India Innings

India have been restricted to 260 for 9 despite getting off to a breezy start in the Semi Final against Pakistan. Left arm quick Wahab Riaz bowled with blistering speed and also reverse swung the ball efficiently to capture a maiden five-wicket haul which triggered a batting collapse for the hosts at Mohali.

The homeside got to a near 50 inside 6 overs when it lost Virender Sehwag who was lbw to Wahab Riaz. Sachin Tendulkar kept the momentum going after that Pakistan bounced back in the game by taking wickets. Wahab Riaz took two wickets in two balls in the 26th over which completely changed the complexion of the game. Yuvraj Singh was one of those two wickets getting cleaned up by a speedy inswinging yorker for a first ball duck. Sachin Tendulkar who was dropped atleast thrice managed to put up a crucial stand of 46 with Skipper MS Dhoni to help India towards the 200-run mark. Tendulkar eventually missed out on a hundred, falling for 85 (from 115 balls with 11 fours) driving Saeed Ajmal straight into the safe hands of Afridi at extra covers.

Skipper MS Dhoni (25 from 42 balls) failed to convert his start to fall in the 42nd over getting lbw to Wahab Riaz to leave his side in huge trouble at 205 for 6. Suresh Raina, the last recognized batsman kept his head down to score a responsible 36* from 39 balls to help India finish at a competitive 260 for 9. Pakistan's hero was Wahab Riaz who captured superb figures of 10-0-46-5

Toss and Teams:

MS Dhoni has won the toss and elected to bat first in the Semi Final clash against arch rivals Pakistan at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. The winner of this match goes on to play Sri Lanka in the Final on the 2nd of April in Mumbai.

Pakistan have gone unchanged which means that Shoaib Akhtar remains confined to the dressing room. India on the other hand could have done a massive blunder by bringing back Ashish Nehra in the place of their wicket taking bowler - R Ashwin!

India : V Sehwag, SR Tendulkar, G Gambhir, V Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni*†, SK Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, MM Patel, A Nehra
Pakistan : Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal†, Asad Shafiq, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi*, Abdul Razzaq, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal
- BV Swagath

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