India stutters to beat Pakistan to enter into Final

India stuttered to beat Pakistan by 29 runs at Mohali in the 2^nd semi-final as at one stage Misbah-ul-Haq had threatened to take the match away from India in vain with a well-compiled 56 as the target of 261 was very much gettable. India had the full support of a vociferous crowd who cheered with drums and fireworks display. The atmosphere was surcharged with emotions running high on either side but in the end India displayed grit, determination and passion to outplay Pakistan in the crucial encounter. India is now one match away from a World Cup triumph after a long gap of 28 years in their home soil which defies history as no other country has successfully achieved the feat so far in the World Cup. Also, India is one victory away from clinching the world No.1 in ODIs, in addition to Tests.  With this victory, India extends their winning streak against Pakistan at the World Cup to 5-0. India now takes on Sri Lanka in the final encounter at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.

India went into the semifinal against Pakistan as odds-on favourites and it was proved right as they didn’t disappoint cricket-crazy fans. India scored 260 for 9 with Sachin Tendulkar, dropped four times, top scored with 85 and Suresh Raina hit an unbeaten 36. Wahab Riaz was the pick of Pakistan bowling with an impressive haul of 5/46 and Saeed Ajmal taking 2/44 while Umar Gul with 0/69 had a forgettable outing in the World Cup semi-final. In contrast, Indians fielded brilliantly that made the difference between the two in the much-awaited match.

India played Nehra as the third seamer, ahead of Ashwin, on a pitch offering spin but Nehra bowled a tight spell (2/33) supported by some electric fielding to restrict the scoring of Pakistan batsmen. Kamran Akmal (19) and Mohammed Hafeez (43) provided a solid start before Akmal fell of Zaheer Khan at 44. Later wickets fell at regular intervals when the Indian seamers responded well by removing the openers and Dhoni brought on spinners, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh and they bowled an attacking line to scalp the wickets of Shafiq (30) and Younis Khan (13). Pakistan was looking down the barrel at 106 for four after 26 overs. Dhoni’s ploy of shuffling seamers in one end and rotating Yuvraj and Harbhajan on the other end paid off well. Umar Akmal was bowled by Harbhajan Singh, operating from round the wicket. Soon Abdul Razzaq (3) fell cheaply to Munaf Patel with his change of pace. Skipper Shahid Afridi (19) briefly tried to hold the innings with Misbah-ul-Haq (56) but lobbed a catch back to Harbhajan. Misbah-ul-Haq waged a lone battle to revive Pakistan’s fortune but it was too little too late as the star was not in favor.

Earlier, India won the toss and elected to bat first and Tendulkar was lucky to be reprieved on four occasions (27, 45, 70 and 81) by the butter-fingered Pakistan fielders, Misbah, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal. Pakistan skipper, Shahid Afridi was the unlucky bowler to suffer as he watched the comic spectacle of dropping on his bowling thrice and from the off-spin of Hafeez.  When everyone thought that he will bring his 100th international century, he was finally taken at cover by Afridi off the bowling of Ajmal for 85 when the score at 5/187, Pakistan's relief was much visible. Dhoni (25) too was dropped by Kamran but fell eventually to lbw off Riaz delivery, the decision of Taufel was challenged unsuccessfully, the second after Sehwag was given out lbw in a similar fashion earlier. Thanks to Riaz, India stuttered after reaching 116 for 1 in 18 overs with the wickets of Virat Kohli caught at backward point and Yuvraj bowled by a low full toss for a first ball duck. Only Sehwag toyed with the Pakistan bowling as he took 21 off Gul (0 for 69) from the third over of the innings. India was looking for a gettable target of around 300 but in the end managed only 260, thanks to Suresh Raina (36 n.o.) who played a cameo innings guided the tail through the batting Power Play taken in the 45th over to post a challenging total in the end. Left-arm pace bowler from Lahore, Wahab Riaz, picked ahead of Shoaib Akhtar, bowled with lot of fire and accuracy to scalp five wickets. Pakistan was done in by some shoddy catching display and poor ground-fielding.

Sachin Tendulkar was adjudged Man of the Match for his patient 85.