India vs. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755: Recap and Analysis of the players – ICC World Cup 2011
India has marched into the final of the ICC World Cup 2011 by defeating arch rivals Pakistan in a match that was perhaps the most hyped clash of the tournament. After posting a gettable total of 260 runs on the board, the home side took the air out of the
visitors by making their life miserable on the pitch, while bowling second. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 comprehensively won the match by 29 runs after bowling the Pakistan side out on 231 runs.
With this victory the hosts and co-hosts Sri Lanka will fight it out between them to get their hands on cricket’s most cherished prize. This is the fifth time since 1992 that India and Pakistan have met in a World Cup and every time the Indians have come
out victorious.
After restricting the Indian side below 300 runs, Pakistan had the best opportunity to halt the Indian winning streak by chasing a total that only required a run rate of 5 an over. However, India which came into the match with three seamers for the first
time in this World Cup had other plans for the Men in Green, as the objective in front of both the teams was clear that the Pakistanis needed to chase the total and Indians on the other hand needed to get wickets if they wanted to retain their winning ways
against their arch rivals in the mega event.
Pakistan’s openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kamran-Akmal-c70122 initiated the innings for Pakistan in a tentative way by not taking too many chances. Things were going good for the two openers, as the Mohali pitch was clearly not helping the Indian pacers in the second
innings. However, the Indians hit early when Akmal sliced a delivery by Zaheer Khan straight to point in the hands of Yuvraj Singh. Akmal scored 19 runs off 21 deliveries. At this stage Pakistan were on 44 runs with Hafeez looking in great knick with the bat.
On came the youngster http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shafiq-c89281 to assist his opener and together the two youngsters exhibited some fine stroke playing shots. The two managed to put some pressure on the fielding side, as they appeared well on their way with things seemingly in Pakistan’s
grip. However, on 70 runs Pakistan suffered another loss when the well set Hafeez on 43 runs gave away his wicket by terribly executing a paddle shot which ended up in the hands of wicket-keeper skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820. Munaf Patel was the bowler who
snatched this prized wicket.
After Hafeez it was time for Pakistan’s veteran middle-order batsman Younus http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khan-c71319 to take the field. Together Shafiq and Khan played a mild innings keeping the required run rate within reach. However, before the partnership could pose a serious threat, the
home side struck again and this time it was Shafiq who was bowled by Yuvraj Singh after scoring 30 runs off 39 deliveries. Pakistan’s tally was 103 runs at this stage.
With Pakistan’s two main batsmen http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 and Younus Khan together on the crease it was expected of them to take matters into their hands and reach the target. Nonetheless, the two only shared three runs in their short partnership as Younus on 13 was
caught at cover by Suresh Raina off a Yuvraj Singh delivery.
With four wickets down, the situation was clearly slipping away from Pakistan. From here on in the run rate started climbing for The Men in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Umar-Akmal-c94595 was feeling the heat, as
the run rate kept on rising. With Misbah seemingly out of touch with the bat, pressure was building up on the shoulders of Akmal who with the passage of every over seemed more and more frustrated. The tough situation got the better of the young lad, as he
was bowled by a straight delivery from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Harbhajan-Singh-c61453. Akmal scored just 29 runs on 24 balls.
Pakistan’s flamboyant all-rounder http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482, failed to save his side from a visible defeat, as he walked back to the pavilion after adding just three runs in the tally.
The game was almost over for Pakistan, but there was one last hope and it was none other than “Boom Boom” Afridi who was up next. The Pakistan fans knew that anything was possible as long as Afridi was on the crease, but perhaps it was already too late as
no genuine batsmen was left in the Pakistan camp after Afridi and Misbah.
“Boom Boom” fell in Harbhajan’s trap, as the temptation to clobber a full toss was just too much to resist. In doing so, Afridi ended up giving a catch to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429, after scoring a quick innings of 19 runs off 17 deliveries.
The asking rate which had crept to almost 12 an over was just too much for Misbah now to overcome and while the Indian camp had started celebrations, depression was running wild in the Pakistan camp. Wahab Riaz and Umar Gul went after scoring eight and two
runs, while Misbah was the last wicket to fall after scoring 56 runs.
Earlier India winning the toss chose to bat and ran havoc right from the start when the openers Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar shattered the confidence of Umar Gul by hitting him for boundaries on regular intervals. It was obviously clear from watching the
Indian batsmen that they wanted to negate the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Umar-Gul-c94604 factor from their innings.
Nonetheless, it was http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zaheer-Khan-c98451. He was also
involved in the magnificent run out of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashish-Nehra-c46293.
From India the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar chipped in 85 runs and was awarded the Man of the Match while his opening partner Sehwag remained the second highest scorer from India. Raina was also useful in the later part of the innings with his unbeaten
knock of 36 runs.
India will now face http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820, in a bid to lift the World Cup for the second time in their history and the first in almost 28-years.
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