Sehwag hit the third ball of the first over of Gul for four! Normally he hits the first ball for four but this he chose the third ball ! India are 4/0.
Sehwag hits Gul for five fours and Pak wilt under Sehwag's onslaught ! 21 runs off Gul's second over.
Sehwag is trapped lbw by Riaz for 38 and India lose their first wicket at 48!
Sachin survives two close calls, one an lbw. He was ruled out by the umpire and then the UDRS ruled him not out. The next ball was a stumping decision, but his foot was well grounded. One billion people had their hearts in their mouths !
Misbah drops Sachin off Afridi and here Sachin is leading a charmed life !
Now India cross 100 runs and are now 101/1.
Sachin is on 39 not out and he now has a tally of 418 runs, being second only to Dilshan ( 467). He overtook Sanga ( 417 ).
Sachin was a bit tentative against Ajmal, but then he hit him for 2 fours in the last over. Afridi was slightly troubling him, but then he lofted Afridi for four. He is now on 43 not out off 55 balls, a sedate knock!
Sachin was dropped four times. Y Khan dropped him again and Akmal also dropped him. He survived two close calls !
Suresh Raina was 36 not out and India scored a respectable 260. Just the total Australia made.
Wahab rips through the Indian batting order
Wahab, at good pace, bowled superbly throughout and claimed five Indian wickets. His fast yorker, which got rid of Yuvraj, was a beauty. Another Wasim Akram in the making ?
This is a challenging total in a high pressure game, in a semi final.
Let us see what happens !
Pak are 85/2. Zaheer took Kamran and Munaf accounted for Hafeez. Now the current rate is 4.45 and the RR is 5.70.
A Shefiq is bowled by Yuvraj. And Y Khan is caught by Raina off Yuvraj and Pak are choking at 113/4!
Umar hit two mighty sixes and was then clean bowled by Bajji and Pak 142/5 !
Munaf Musa Patel takes the off stump of Razzak and Pak are 150/6!
Afridi gets a full toss from Bajji and lofts it into the hands of Sehwag. Pak 184/7!
Nehra is bowling beautifully and Riaz lofts one into the hands of Sachin and Pak are 199/8 ! It seems India is going to end the Pak challenge !
If Pak choke, History had repeated itself. They had lost 4 WC matches to India and this will be the fifth !
With a reverse swinging full toss, Nehra traps Umar Gul lbw and Pak are nine down ! For 208 !
Misbah is out, finally caught by Kohli off Zaheer for a well compiled 56. Somebody jocularly remarked that he again became the hero of India. ( In the 2007 T20 WC, Misbah lofted one into the hands of Sreesanth ! ).
Pak are bowled out for 231 and Ind win by 29 runs! There are other chokers apart from South Africa !
It was a collective team effort from India. The five bowlers used - Patel, Zaheer, Nehra, Bajji and Yuvraj all responded well with two wickets each !
Kamran Akmal dropped Sachin and one wonders whether he is the keeper of wickets of the opposition batsmen !
Afridi, when he beat SL, said chasing ( Sl was chasing ) 260 under the lights is difficult, with the ball reverse swinging. Now that statement proved to be his nemesis !
Sachin was adjudged Man of the Match for his brilliant 85. Yuvraj's two wickets took his tally to 13! Will he be the Man of the Tournament? ( he has 341 runs ). Sachin with 464 runs, is only slightly behind Dilshan ( 467 ) but is ahead of Sanga ( 417).
Well played India, well fought Pakistan !
Comments