Mohali Bleeds Blue
The Indian team made their way to the finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 by defeating arch rivals Pakistan by 29 runs in the semi finals at Mohali. With this win, the home team maintained their undefeated run against Pakistan in the World Cups.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, India got off to a blazing start with Sehwag producing most of the boundaries. On the other end, Sachin also looked in great form but most importantly, luck was on his side as he was dropped 4 times during his innings of 85 runs which provided a solid platform to the Indian innings. After Sehwag’s dismissal, Gambhir and Kohli tried to build a good partnership with Sachin but failed to do so. With the in form batsman, Yuvraj getting dismissed on his first ball, India looked in great trouble. Skipper Dhoni and Sachin guided the innings but both of them got dismissed at vital situations in the game. At a point of time it looked as if India wouldn’t even reach 230, but Raina made sure that they played till the last ball and took India to a decent total of 260. The pick of the Pakistani bowlers’ was Wahab Riaz who bowled with great maturity and took his career best figures of 5 for 46.
Chasing 261, Pakistan got a good start from Kamran Akmal and Mohammed Hafeez as they timely cleared the boundaries with ease. Eventually, both of them were dismissed by Indian pacers, but the match turned in India’s favor when Yuvraj took two vital wickets of Asaf Shafiq and Younis Khan in quick succession. Umar Akmal and Misbah ul haq tried to stabilize the innings and kept their chances of winning alive. But Akmal’s dismissal by Harbhajan triggered the collapse of their middle order. Skipper Afridi showed some resistance and kept the match alive but he too was done into by Harbhajan Singh. As the required run rate kept mounting and the wickets kept falling, the match slowly slipped out of Pakistan’s hands. Misbah tried hard to clear the ropes but couldn’t do enough as the Indians bowled with great discipline. Finally with 30 required of the last over, Misbah’s mistimed shot was caught at long on and the crowd at Mohali went berserk as India had made it to their 3rd World Cup final.
Afridi and his team can keep their heads high as they played really well in this tournament but probably it was their fielding which cost them today’s match. As expected the master blaster was awarded Man of the match. Dhoni would be happy with his team’s performance but he knows that they still have a final hurdle to cross. The Lankans would give Indians a tough fight in the final. So, don’t miss the concluding match of the World Cup this Saturday live from Mumbai on Star Cricket to see on which side of the Palk Strait the Cup would go to.
Tags: Blue, Chandigarh, Cricket, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, India, Mohali, Pakistan, Sachin Tendulkar, Semi-Final, Semifinal, World Cup, World Cup 2011
