India vs Pakistan India win Mohali encounter by 29 runs Highlights

India vs Pakistan: India win Mohali encounter by 29 runs – Highlights

MOHALI: Despite of a manful innings by Misbah-ul-Haq, India defeated Pakistan by 29 runs in the second semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium at Mohali here Wednesday.

The victory has taken India in the all-important final against Sri Lanka who defeated New Zealand in the first semi final the other day. The final would be played on April 2 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Pakistan were looking good after a promising opening start of 44 runs but it changed completely when Mohammad Hafeez played a horrendous shot trying to flick one delivery from outside the off-stump to the long-leg.

Wickets kept falling at one end while Misbah-ul-Haq stood like a rock at the other but runs never came easy for him due to consistent fall of wickets. In the end, he ran out of partners and decided to take things under his control but lost his wicket in the fifth ball of the final over and Pakistan left 29 runs short of the target.

Earlier, Virender Sehwag gave India a flying start and Sachin Tendulkar then kept the momentum. Sachin scored 95th half-century but not only after getting dropped on at least four times by the likes of Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal and Younus Khan.

Wahab Riaz was the star for Pakistan, who was preferred over Shoaib Akhtar, and the lad never disappointed the skipper as well as the nation with his lethal fast bowling grabbing his first fifer in One Day Internationals.

During the course, he got rid of batsmen like Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Saeed Ajmal also bowled well and grabbed two wickets for 44 runs and kept bamboozling Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar right throughout his spell but it was Umar Gul who was out of sorts today as he went for 69 runs from eight overs. Skipper Afridi remained wicketless but two catches of Sachin Tendulkar were dropped off his bowling.

That’s where Suresh Raina took things under his control and battled it out till the final over as India managed to reach 260 runs for the loss of nine wickets from 50 overs.

Sachin Tendulkar was declared Man of the Match despite of playing one of his not-so-pretty innings but still it turned out to be a match-winning one.

India vs Pakistan Semi Final Highlights World Cup 2011

News sportsencounter