PLAYER OF THE MATCH SACHIN TENDULKAR
India won the toss and elected to bat ffirst.Sachin Tendulkar (85) had ridden his luck against Wahab Riaz (five for 46) and others, whether India's 260 for nine was a defendable total.Tendulkar was named Man-of-the-Match for his top score of 85 in India's 260 for nine, a total they duly defended in Wednesday's semi-final.
Nice comeback from Pakistan to restrict the opposition to a decent total. At one stage, India were running away with the game but an inspirational bowling from Wahab Riaz pegged the Men in Blue back and helped Pakistan to bounce back. Initially, Sehwag went ballistic and India hammered 73 runs in the first 10 overs. But once he departed the run rate dipped as the Pakistani spinners bowled a tight line. Tendulkar(85) looked rusty and was dropped four times in the field but he failed to capitalize on the opportunity. The wickets fell at regular intervals and India were struggling at 6/205. A few lusty blows from Raina towards the end helped India to cross the 250-run mark. Wahab Riaz was the star for Pakistan with a maiden five-wicket haul and was supported well by Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez.
Chasing a decent target, Pakistan got off to a nice and sensible start but lost the plot mid-way. The wickets tumble at regular intervals as none of the batsmen looked to bide some time out in the middle. Indian bowlers were right on the money and fared excellently. Every one chipped in with a couple of wickets each. Misbah(56) was the lone fighter and Umar Akmal gave a little scare as well but in the end they were bundled out. A classy performance by team India to outclass Pakistan by 29 runs to advance into the final of CWC 2011. Spare a thought for Pakistan, against all odds they have been tremendous in the tournament and will have their heads high in spite of a loss
WITH THIS WIN INDIA MAINTAIN THEIR INVINCIBLE RECORD AGAINST PAKISTAN ACROSS ALL WORLD CUPS!
