India advance to the ICC World Cup 2011 final
India made their way to the final of the ICC World Cup 2011 after they defeated arch rivals Pakistan by 29 runs, at the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in the final of the tournament on Saturday 2 April,
at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028, captain of India, won the toss and elected to bat first against Pakistan. The Mohali pitch was not exactly the same like it has been in the past. The new ball did come onto the bat, but batting became difficult with the course of the match, as
the wicket became slower and lower.
The hosts got off to a blazing start, courtesy openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429 and Sachin Tendulkar. They managed 48 runs in 5.5-overs before Sehwag was dismissed. The flamboyant batsman scored 38 runs off 25 balls.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 scored 27 runs from 32 balls, but he failed to carry onto the start he got to his innings. He got out after a 68 run partnership with Tendulkar, which took the score to 116.
However, the middle-order struggled to score runs because of the slow nature of the pitch. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Yuvraj-Singh-c98364 were cleaned up in two consecutive balls and the hosts were struggling at 141 for four.
Sinking http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 deeper, the Master Blaster also got out at a crucial stage of the game. He scored 85 runs off 115 balls, but the innings was not one of the most fluent ones he has played. The veteran batsman was dropped four times in the match by the Pakistan
fielders.
The Indian captain also failed to make an impression, as he got out after adding just 25 runs to the total. However, Suresh Raina’s unbeaten 36 off 39 balls guided the home team to 260 in their allotted 50-overs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wahab-Riaz-c95839 was exceptional with the ball, as he took five wickets in the match. Apart from him, Saeed Ajmal also troubled the batsmen, taking two wickets.
Pakistan needed a solid start from their openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898 and Kamran Akmal and the pair did not disappoint their team. However, they gave their wickets away after taking starts to their innings. They got out after scoring 19 and 43 runs respectively.
First-drop http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Younis-Khan-c98325, who found it hard to time the ball, as he was sent back to the pavilion after adding 13 runs to the total.
Umar Akmal looked threatening, as he was timing the ball to perfection. He smashed 29 runs off 24 balls before he misjudged one straight ball from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 scored 56 runs off 76 balls, he took a lot of time to settle down,
which put Pakistan on the back-foot. He was the last http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 batsman to be dismissed on a total of 231.
Wickets were shared by the Indian bowlers, as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashish-Nehra-c46293, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh took two each in the match. Tendulkar was named as Player of the Match for his valiant innings of 85 runs.
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