Tendulkar knock takes India to the World Cup final

Pakistan began well in their answer to India's fighting total of 260 but lost both openers Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez for 70 runs. 

Openers Mohammed Hafeez and Kamran Akmal mixed strokeplay with cautious pushes and kept the scoreboard ticking in the initial overs. But Akmal was dismissed for 19 runs off 20 balls caught at point by Yuvraj Singh off a sharp delivery by Zaheer Khan. 

Pakistan lost their first wicket at 43 in the eighth over. India pulled back the free scoring a bit and in the 16th over, an increasingly impatient Hafeez went for a wild shot and was caught behind by M S Dhoni. Munaf Patel scalped him. 

At 103 runs for 2 wickets, when it seemed like Pakistan was going to take the match away from India, Yuvraj Singh delivered two fatal blows in the nick of time. He first bowled Shafiq for 30 runs, followed by Younis Khan for 13 runs - caught by Raina. 

Harbhajan Singh replaced Yuvraj in the 34th over and promptly bowled Umar Akmal off his first delivery. Akmal made 29 runs off 24 balls. 

Razzaq was sent packing in the 37th over, bowled by Munaf Patel. He had made 3 runs off 9 balls. 

When Pak had scored 184 runs, captain Shahid Afridi was caught by Sehwag after having scored 19 runs for 17 balls, off the bowling of Harbhajan Singh. Afridi was looking to strike a mighty blow over extra cover but just managed to hit it in the air for the fielder to pull off an easy catch. 

Wahab Riaz did not bother the scorers for too long. He was all at seas playing against the Indian bowlers and Nehra put him out of his misery, having him caught by Tendulkar after he scored 8 (14). 

The next wicket was not long in coming. Umar Gul was also dismissed by Nehra, caught plumb lbw for 2(3). Although the batsman went in for the video review, the decision was clearly going to go against him. The almost-yorker length ball caught him just above the ankles. Pakistan at that time needed 53 runs off 24 balls. 

On Mohali's flat batting pitch, the Indian score is probably 20 to 30 runs short according to experts. 

India struggled to put on board 260 with no significant contributions from any batsman nor a good partnership. 

Sachin Tendulkar made a scratchy 85 but not without surviving two referrals and four dropped catches. 

India made one change, dropping offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin and bringing in pacer Ashish Nehra. This might prove costly since Pakistani spinner Saeed Ajmal picked up two wickets in his 10 overs. He gave away 44 runs. Shahid Afridi was wicketless but conceded only 45. 

Wahab Riaz took a career-best 5 for 46 as Pakistan restricted India to a reachable 260-9 despite an atrocious fielding performance in Wednesday's high-stakes World Cup semifinal.

The left-arm paceman struck at crucial junctures, accounting for a dangerous looking Virender Sehwag and an in-form Yuvraj Singh among others, as the famed Indian batting struggled against his swing.