India beat Pak enter final ICC WC 2011

India enters into the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup beating Pakistan by 29 runs in the second semi-final at Mohali last night. Team India winning toss electing to bat first,India put up moderate score 260 for nine with top contribution of 85 runs by Tendulkar,declared Man of the Match.Thus Chasing the target of 261, Pakistani batting crumbled against some brilliant bowling by the Indian seamers and spinners. They were all out for 231 runs in 49.5 overs.For India, five bowlers including Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh claimed two wickets each.

With this victory, India maintained their unbeaten record against Pakistan in 36 years of World Cup history.Punjab Cricket Association Stadium went wild in celebrations, shouting, dancing and waving national flags after India carved out a memorable victory against its traditional rival in the presence of the Prime Ministers of both countries.Pakistan had done well earlier to peg India back to 260-9 despite some sloppy fielding, with left-arm pace bowler Wahab Riaz taking a career-best 5-46.

The victory continued a streak for India, which has beaten Pakistan in all five World Cup head-to-heads dating back to 1992.

The game was touted as a face-off between India’s batting lineup and Pakistan’s bowling attack,Pakistan’s shoddy fielding was eventually the difference between the two sides as Tendulkar was let off four times,giving him an opportunity to knit together challenging total for India and the bowlers then ensured a third World Cup final appearance for the 1983 champion.India piled the pressure on a Pakistan batting lineup which failed to produce a single century in the tournament. Pakistan’s early promise was slowed down in the middle overs as Yuvraj made early inroads and the bowlers slowly took control, marshalled well by captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. All five Indian bowlers finished with two wickets each.