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Balloon decoration for 1st birthday party - Balloon decoration for 1st birthday party at apno ghar sector 77 gurgaon by videek stage craft 9891478560 DG Event Best dj sound and light co...
Ultra high-speed broadband is coming to Kansas City, Kansas
As part of our overall goal to make the web better for users, last year we announced a new project: to provide a community with Internet access more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have today. The response was overwhelming—nearly 1,100 cities felt the need for speed—and we were thrilled by the enthusiasm we saw across the country for better and faster web connections. Thank you to every community and individual that submitted a response, joined a rally, starred in a YouTube video or otherwise participated.
After a careful review, today we’re very happy to announce that we will build our ultra high-speed network in Kansas City, Kansas. We’ve signed a development agreement with the city, and we’ll be working closely with local organizations, businesses and universities to bring a next-generation web experience to the community.
Later this morning we'll join Mayor Reardon at Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas, for an event we’ll carry live on the Google YouTube channel—be sure to tune in at 10am PDT to watch.
In selecting a city, our goal was to find a location where we could build efficiently, make an impact on the community and develop relationships with local government and community organizations. We’ve found this in Kansas City. We’ll be working closely with local organizations including the Kauffman Foundation, KCNext and the University of Kansas Medical Center to help develop the gigabit applications of the future.
Pending approval from the city’s Board of Commissioners, we plan to offer service beginning in 2012. We’ll also be looking closely at ways to bring ultra high-speed Internet to other cities across the country.
Over the past decade, the jump from dial-up to broadband has led to streaming online video, digital music sales, video conferencing over the web and countless other innovations that have transformed communication and commerce. We can’t wait to see what new products and services will emerge as Kansas City moves from traditional broadband to ultra high-speed fiber optic connections.
Now it’s time to get to work.
After a careful review, today we’re very happy to announce that we will build our ultra high-speed network in Kansas City, Kansas. We’ve signed a development agreement with the city, and we’ll be working closely with local organizations, businesses and universities to bring a next-generation web experience to the community.
Later this morning we'll join Mayor Reardon at Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas, for an event we’ll carry live on the Google YouTube channel—be sure to tune in at 10am PDT to watch.
In selecting a city, our goal was to find a location where we could build efficiently, make an impact on the community and develop relationships with local government and community organizations. We’ve found this in Kansas City. We’ll be working closely with local organizations including the Kauffman Foundation, KCNext and the University of Kansas Medical Center to help develop the gigabit applications of the future.
Pending approval from the city’s Board of Commissioners, we plan to offer service beginning in 2012. We’ll also be looking closely at ways to bring ultra high-speed Internet to other cities across the country.
Over the past decade, the jump from dial-up to broadband has led to streaming online video, digital music sales, video conferencing over the web and countless other innovations that have transformed communication and commerce. We can’t wait to see what new products and services will emerge as Kansas City moves from traditional broadband to ultra high-speed fiber optic connections.
Now it’s time to get to work.
NYRB buys idea of Palin's 'arduous...even dangerous' feats. Alaskans don't.
Janet Malcom in the New York Review of books offers this credulous appraisal of things Sarah Palin did on her television show: "Palin, who is both narrator and star of the series, performs arduous and sometimes even dangerous feats of outdoorsmanship to demonstrate the conservative virtue of self-reliance." http://goo.gl/aitoe
Well, bullshit.
Longtime Alaska outdoor journalist Craig Medred dissects that claim in Alaska Dispatch: " National Park Service rangers and other personnel who monitored the activities of Palin and her producers in the park say no one involved with "Sarah Palin's Alaska" was ever in any danger." http://goo.gl/ZuSq3Nicole Friday Of The Cupcake Craze At Macy's
Yesterday Nicole Friday, owner of The Cupcake Craze, did a baking demo at the Culinary Center at Macy's Herald Square. Nicole Friday was named "Macy's Battle of The Cupcakes Winner" and she does cupcake catering in Northern New Jersey and New York City. For the baking demo, Nicole made coconut cream cupcakes. Her cupcakes are made with coconut milk and have big coconut flakes on top which is a nice balance texture-wise to the creamy coconut cake. She will be doing another baking demo on April 16 at Williams Sonoma Columbus Circle. You can check out Cupcake Craze on Twitter and Facebook.
The New Google Analytics: Quick insights with Plot Rows
Labels: New Google Analytics
This is part of our series of posts highlighting the new Google Analytics. The new version of Google Analytics is currently available in beta to a small number of Analytics users. We’ll be giving access to more users soon. Sign up for early access.
The graph on top of most Google Analytics reports is designed to give you a quick overview of your site’s performance over time. From the graph it’s easy to spot trends and understand how your traffic has changed over time. One request we heard was the ability to quickly focus the graph on a particular row of data. While you could do this with a drill-down report or using an advanced segment, we saw this as an opportunity to provide an easy way to do quick comparisons in the new Google Analytics.
Say for example you’re examining your site’s traffic by traffic source. You can see there are peaks and valleys in the traffic, but if you want a sense of the major contributors, you need to dig into the table.
With Plot Rows, you can graph any two rows alongside the overview. You can then easily determine how much a row contributes to the whole. Or you can compare two lines against each other to look for comparison trends.
To use Plot Rows, just tick any one or two checkboxes next to the rows you want to plot, then at the bottom of the table, hits the Plot Rows button.
Remember, that some reports like New vs. Returning default to a Pie Chart view. This doesn’t mean you can’t use Plot Rows, just switch the view to Data, and you’re good to go.
Here’s a quick video showing this in action:
Usage Tips
When looking at continuous metrics, like Visits, Plot Rows is most revealing when exploring the rows of similar scale, for example to see how they contribute to the whole and change over time. When looking at rows at different scales the graph will be more informative when using percentage metrics like Bounce Rate.
In this example, we’re looking at organic search traffic driven to the Google Store from Google and Bing. One would not expect that Bing users are actively looking to buy Google merchandise (like this awesome t-shirt), so the number of visits is understandably low. Since the traffic from Bing is relatively low, the graph doesn’t share much we didn’t already know from the table.
In new version of Analytics you can quickly graph any of the metrics in the scorecard (the bar on top of the graph) by clicking on the metric in the scorecard. Looking at Bounce Rate, we can see that over time the Bounce Rate from Google search (orange) has dropped, which has reduced the overall Bounce Rate of the site (blue), while the Bounce Rate from Bing (green) has more or less stayed constant.
You can use Plot Rows in just about any report that has a data table. Let us know if you find a place you want this functionality that doesn’t already have it. Also, we’re planning to give a bunch more of you access to the new version this week. Be on the look out!
Hero is in Betal Ground
we indian is again 3rd time in be-tail ground in Cricket world Cup 2011, !st = 1983 Won, 2nd - 2003 Loss, 3rd - 2011 Again
India maintain WC domination over Pak, enter final
India extended its unbeaten streak in World Cups over Pakistan to five matches as MS Dhoni's team defeated Shahid Afridi's boys by 29 runs in the second semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup at Mohali tonight to set up a final clash with Sri Lanka on April 2.
Chasing a target of 261, Pakistan was never in the hunt as they lost wickets at regular intervals even as only Misbah-ul-Haq scored a half-century and they were eventually bowled out for 231 in 49.5 overs.
Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez got Pakistan's run chase of 261 off to a steady start without taking too many risks, before the wicket keeper-batsman chased a full Zaheer Khan delivery outside off stump as he tried to play his favourite shot, the square drive. Instead, he only succeeded in slicing a catch to Yuvraj Singh at point to give India a much-needed breakthrough in the ninth over courtesy its most consistent bowler after Pakistan's openers had got 44 runs on the board.
Hafeez and Asad Shafiq then took on the task of getting Pakistan back on track and were hardly troubled by either Munaf Patel or Ashish Nehra ( a surprise inclusion in place of R Ashwin), who despite keeping the runs in check didn't look threatening enough to take a wicket. In fact, if it weren't for a brain freeze moment on Hafeez's part, who looked comfortable and had scored 43 including seven hits to the fence despite hardly taking any risks, chose to play a paddle sweep off Munaf and only managed to get an edge to Dhoni behind the stumps as both Pakistan's openers gifted away their wickets.
The onus then fell on Shafiq, who rotated the strike and looked good in the middle, and the experienced Younis Khan to get Pakistan back on track, but Yuvraj made up for his failure with the bat by dismissing both the batsmen in consecutive overs to shift the advantage back India's way. While Yuvraj clean bowled Shafiq (30) with a straight ball, he had Younis caught at cover by Suresh Raina with Pakistan 106 for 4 in the 26th over. Yuvraj (2-57) played the role of the fifth bowler and while he was a tad expensive, he did the job that was asked of him.
Younis has been a consistent performer against India, but in this crunch match he failed to get going and continued his poor form in the 2011 World Cup as he failed to rotate the strike and struggled to a painstaking 32-ball 13. Umar Akmal then tried his best to get Pakistan back into the match even as the required rate started to climb thanks to the slow going on the part of Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq. Umar did hit two massive sixes in his 24-ball 29 before he played all over an Harbhajan Singh arm ball to be clean bowled, and then Munaf, who impressed as the match went on, got into the act too as he cleaned up Abdul Razzaq with an excellent slower ball to leave Pakistan gasping at 150 for 6 in the 37th over.
The final nail in the coffin was delivered when Afridi (19 in 17 balls) gave an easy catch to Virender Sehwag at cover off a high Harbhajan full toss with Pakistan 184 for 7 in the 42nd over. Nehra, who mixed things nicely up towards the end of the match then had Riaz caught at cover and then trapped Umar Gul LBW, the decision of which was upheld on review. Misbah, who was last man out for 56 caught at midwicket by Virat Kohli, did his best to get Pakistan back into the match in the batting power play, but it was too little and too late for Afridi's team and they really have themselves to blame for leaving the batting power play so inexplicably late in their innings and letting the match get out of their grasp in the middle overs. Misbah did try to increase his scoring run rate in the end, but his slow and tedious going early in his innings all but ensured Pakistan would have a mountain to climb. All of India's bowlers took two wickets each, but Nehra (2-33), Munaf (2-40) and Harbhajan (2-43) did well.
Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar didn't get to his 100th international century, and probably that was for the best, because this innings was far from being the in-control knocks that he has played for most of his career. Even then, Tendulkar top-scored with 85 in India's total of 260 for 9, but had the butter-fingers of Misbah-ul-aq, Younis and the Akmal brothers to score those many runs in the first place, and, in the final analysis, it would come back to haunt Pakistan.
Tendulkar was on 27 when Misbah dropped a catch at short-mid wicket off Afridi; and when on 45, Younis dropped a straightforward chance at mid-off with Afridi again being the unfortunate bowler. The Indian batting legend had earlier been adjudged out LBW by umpire Ian Gould off Saeed Ajmal when he was on 23, but the decision was overturned on review, as the ball would have just missed the leg stump; and off the very next ball the third umpire ruled Tendulkar not out following a stumping appeal by Kamran Akmal.
Tendulkar did hit some of his trademark boundaries in his knock, but for the most part it was a patchy and chancy innings, and at times it appeared he wasn't really enjoying being out in the middle. Tendulkar though rotated the strike and strung together partnerships of some accord with Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli for the second and third wickets even as he brought up yet another half-century, this one off 67 balls when he hit an Afridi delivery over extra cover for a boundary. He was then to be given two more reprieves when Kamran failed to hold on to an edge off an Afridi delivery, and then again on 81 when the wicket-keeper's younger brother Umar failed to hold on to a catch at short mid-wicket despite leaping and getting both his hands to a checked drive off Mohammad Hafeez.
Indian captain MS Dhoni earlier won the toss and elected to bat and the Indian innings got off to an electrifying start courtesy Sehwag, who hit five boundaries off the third over of the match bowled by Pakistan's spearhead Umar Gul, who leaked 41 runs in his first four overs. Sehwag's breezy 25-ball 38, which contained nine hits to the fence, was brought to an end by the impressive Riaz, who trapped the Indian opener plumb in front with a short of length delivery. Sehwag challenged umpire Simon Taufel's decision without consulting Tendulkar, and it turned out to be an unnecessary review in the end.
Tendulkar and Gambhir then added 68 runs for the second wicket at almost a run a ball, with the southpaw looking more at ease than his senior partner, who found the going tough, especially against Ajmal. But, just when it looked as though Gambhir (27) and Tendulkar would take India to a position of strength, the former was stumped by Kamran off a flighted Hafeez delivery with the score 116 for 2 in the 19th over. Virat Kohli, who had an excellent start to the 2011 World Cup, has struggled for runs in recent matches, and that trend continued in the semi-finals where he looked ill at ease before Riaz had him caught by Umar at backward point and the left-arm pacer gave Pakistan more reason to celebrate off the very next delivery when he castled Yuvraj Singh with a full swinging delivery as India's in-form batsman walked back to the pavilion for a first-ball duck even as the co-hosts slipped to 141 for 4 from 116 for 2.
Dhoni had said before the match that his form wasn't a concern, but the manner in which he struggled during his 42-ball 25 belied the confidence the skipper had in his own form. In all, Dhoni played 25 dot balls in his innings, an apt reflection of his struggles at the crease, and the two boundaries he hit were edged through the vacant slip region. At the other end, meanwhile, Tendulkar continued to lead a charmed life, before he was finally caught by Afridi off Ajmal with the score 187 for 5 in 37 overs. Tendulkar's 115-ball 85 contained 11 boundaries, but also included a massive 71 dot balls.
Riaz (5-46) then returned to dismiss Dhoni and Zaheer as he picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in one-day internationals even as Suresh Raina played a lone hand in the lower middle-order with a 39-ball 36 that gave the Indian innings some impetus in the batting power play in which India scored 43 runs for the loss of Harbhajan Singh's wicket who was stumped off Ajmal. While Riaz impressed, Gul struggled in his second spell as well and eventually Pakistan spearhead's failed for the first time in the World Cup, albeit in an important match, and had figures of 8-0-69-0. Afridi failed to take any wickets, but Hafeez (1-34) was the most economical of Pakistan's bowlers and kept things in the middle overs.
But, in the end, India did enough to maintain their dominance over Pakistan in World Cups and give the full house in Mohali a lot to cheer about. All eyes will now be focused at the Wankhede Stadium on April 2, where either India or Sri Lanka will win their second World Cup title.
Chasing a target of 261, Pakistan was never in the hunt as they lost wickets at regular intervals even as only Misbah-ul-Haq scored a half-century and they were eventually bowled out for 231 in 49.5 overs.
Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez got Pakistan's run chase of 261 off to a steady start without taking too many risks, before the wicket keeper-batsman chased a full Zaheer Khan delivery outside off stump as he tried to play his favourite shot, the square drive. Instead, he only succeeded in slicing a catch to Yuvraj Singh at point to give India a much-needed breakthrough in the ninth over courtesy its most consistent bowler after Pakistan's openers had got 44 runs on the board.
Hafeez and Asad Shafiq then took on the task of getting Pakistan back on track and were hardly troubled by either Munaf Patel or Ashish Nehra ( a surprise inclusion in place of R Ashwin), who despite keeping the runs in check didn't look threatening enough to take a wicket. In fact, if it weren't for a brain freeze moment on Hafeez's part, who looked comfortable and had scored 43 including seven hits to the fence despite hardly taking any risks, chose to play a paddle sweep off Munaf and only managed to get an edge to Dhoni behind the stumps as both Pakistan's openers gifted away their wickets.
The onus then fell on Shafiq, who rotated the strike and looked good in the middle, and the experienced Younis Khan to get Pakistan back on track, but Yuvraj made up for his failure with the bat by dismissing both the batsmen in consecutive overs to shift the advantage back India's way. While Yuvraj clean bowled Shafiq (30) with a straight ball, he had Younis caught at cover by Suresh Raina with Pakistan 106 for 4 in the 26th over. Yuvraj (2-57) played the role of the fifth bowler and while he was a tad expensive, he did the job that was asked of him.
Younis has been a consistent performer against India, but in this crunch match he failed to get going and continued his poor form in the 2011 World Cup as he failed to rotate the strike and struggled to a painstaking 32-ball 13. Umar Akmal then tried his best to get Pakistan back into the match even as the required rate started to climb thanks to the slow going on the part of Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq. Umar did hit two massive sixes in his 24-ball 29 before he played all over an Harbhajan Singh arm ball to be clean bowled, and then Munaf, who impressed as the match went on, got into the act too as he cleaned up Abdul Razzaq with an excellent slower ball to leave Pakistan gasping at 150 for 6 in the 37th over.
The final nail in the coffin was delivered when Afridi (19 in 17 balls) gave an easy catch to Virender Sehwag at cover off a high Harbhajan full toss with Pakistan 184 for 7 in the 42nd over. Nehra, who mixed things nicely up towards the end of the match then had Riaz caught at cover and then trapped Umar Gul LBW, the decision of which was upheld on review. Misbah, who was last man out for 56 caught at midwicket by Virat Kohli, did his best to get Pakistan back into the match in the batting power play, but it was too little and too late for Afridi's team and they really have themselves to blame for leaving the batting power play so inexplicably late in their innings and letting the match get out of their grasp in the middle overs. Misbah did try to increase his scoring run rate in the end, but his slow and tedious going early in his innings all but ensured Pakistan would have a mountain to climb. All of India's bowlers took two wickets each, but Nehra (2-33), Munaf (2-40) and Harbhajan (2-43) did well.
Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar didn't get to his 100th international century, and probably that was for the best, because this innings was far from being the in-control knocks that he has played for most of his career. Even then, Tendulkar top-scored with 85 in India's total of 260 for 9, but had the butter-fingers of Misbah-ul-aq, Younis and the Akmal brothers to score those many runs in the first place, and, in the final analysis, it would come back to haunt Pakistan.
Tendulkar was on 27 when Misbah dropped a catch at short-mid wicket off Afridi; and when on 45, Younis dropped a straightforward chance at mid-off with Afridi again being the unfortunate bowler. The Indian batting legend had earlier been adjudged out LBW by umpire Ian Gould off Saeed Ajmal when he was on 23, but the decision was overturned on review, as the ball would have just missed the leg stump; and off the very next ball the third umpire ruled Tendulkar not out following a stumping appeal by Kamran Akmal.
Tendulkar did hit some of his trademark boundaries in his knock, but for the most part it was a patchy and chancy innings, and at times it appeared he wasn't really enjoying being out in the middle. Tendulkar though rotated the strike and strung together partnerships of some accord with Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli for the second and third wickets even as he brought up yet another half-century, this one off 67 balls when he hit an Afridi delivery over extra cover for a boundary. He was then to be given two more reprieves when Kamran failed to hold on to an edge off an Afridi delivery, and then again on 81 when the wicket-keeper's younger brother Umar failed to hold on to a catch at short mid-wicket despite leaping and getting both his hands to a checked drive off Mohammad Hafeez.
Indian captain MS Dhoni earlier won the toss and elected to bat and the Indian innings got off to an electrifying start courtesy Sehwag, who hit five boundaries off the third over of the match bowled by Pakistan's spearhead Umar Gul, who leaked 41 runs in his first four overs. Sehwag's breezy 25-ball 38, which contained nine hits to the fence, was brought to an end by the impressive Riaz, who trapped the Indian opener plumb in front with a short of length delivery. Sehwag challenged umpire Simon Taufel's decision without consulting Tendulkar, and it turned out to be an unnecessary review in the end.
Tendulkar and Gambhir then added 68 runs for the second wicket at almost a run a ball, with the southpaw looking more at ease than his senior partner, who found the going tough, especially against Ajmal. But, just when it looked as though Gambhir (27) and Tendulkar would take India to a position of strength, the former was stumped by Kamran off a flighted Hafeez delivery with the score 116 for 2 in the 19th over. Virat Kohli, who had an excellent start to the 2011 World Cup, has struggled for runs in recent matches, and that trend continued in the semi-finals where he looked ill at ease before Riaz had him caught by Umar at backward point and the left-arm pacer gave Pakistan more reason to celebrate off the very next delivery when he castled Yuvraj Singh with a full swinging delivery as India's in-form batsman walked back to the pavilion for a first-ball duck even as the co-hosts slipped to 141 for 4 from 116 for 2.
Dhoni had said before the match that his form wasn't a concern, but the manner in which he struggled during his 42-ball 25 belied the confidence the skipper had in his own form. In all, Dhoni played 25 dot balls in his innings, an apt reflection of his struggles at the crease, and the two boundaries he hit were edged through the vacant slip region. At the other end, meanwhile, Tendulkar continued to lead a charmed life, before he was finally caught by Afridi off Ajmal with the score 187 for 5 in 37 overs. Tendulkar's 115-ball 85 contained 11 boundaries, but also included a massive 71 dot balls.
Riaz (5-46) then returned to dismiss Dhoni and Zaheer as he picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in one-day internationals even as Suresh Raina played a lone hand in the lower middle-order with a 39-ball 36 that gave the Indian innings some impetus in the batting power play in which India scored 43 runs for the loss of Harbhajan Singh's wicket who was stumped off Ajmal. While Riaz impressed, Gul struggled in his second spell as well and eventually Pakistan spearhead's failed for the first time in the World Cup, albeit in an important match, and had figures of 8-0-69-0. Afridi failed to take any wickets, but Hafeez (1-34) was the most economical of Pakistan's bowlers and kept things in the middle overs.
But, in the end, India did enough to maintain their dominance over Pakistan in World Cups and give the full house in Mohali a lot to cheer about. All eyes will now be focused at the Wankhede Stadium on April 2, where either India or Sri Lanka will win their second World Cup title.
India maintain WC domination over Pak, enter final
India extended its unbeaten streak in World Cups over Pakistan to five matches as MS Dhoni's team defeated Shahid Afridi's boys by 29 runs in the second semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup at Mohali tonight to set up a final clash with Sri Lanka on April 2.
Chasing a target of 261, Pakistan was never in the hunt as they lost wickets at regular intervals even as only Misbah-ul-Haq scored a half-century and they were eventually bowled out for 231 in 49.5 overs.
Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez got Pakistan's run chase of 261 off to a steady start without taking too many risks, before the wicket keeper-batsman chased a full Zaheer Khan delivery outside off stump as he tried to play his favourite shot, the square drive. Instead, he only succeeded in slicing a catch to Yuvraj Singh at point to give India a much-needed breakthrough in the ninth over courtesy its most consistent bowler after Pakistan's openers had got 44 runs on the board.
Hafeez and Asad Shafiq then took on the task of getting Pakistan back on track and were hardly troubled by either Munaf Patel or Ashish Nehra ( a surprise inclusion in place of R Ashwin), who despite keeping the runs in check didn't look threatening enough to take a wicket. In fact, if it weren't for a brain freeze moment on Hafeez's part, who looked comfortable and had scored 43 including seven hits to the fence despite hardly taking any risks, chose to play a paddle sweep off Munaf and only managed to get an edge to Dhoni behind the stumps as both Pakistan's openers gifted away their wickets.
The onus then fell on Shafiq, who rotated the strike and looked good in the middle, and the experienced Younis Khan to get Pakistan back on track, but Yuvraj made up for his failure with the bat by dismissing both the batsmen in consecutive overs to shift the advantage back India's way. While Yuvraj clean bowled Shafiq (30) with a straight ball, he had Younis caught at cover by Suresh Raina with Pakistan 106 for 4 in the 26th over. Yuvraj (2-57) played the role of the fifth bowler and while he was a tad expensive, he did the job that was asked of him.
Younis has been a consistent performer against India, but in this crunch match he failed to get going and continued his poor form in the 2011 World Cup as he failed to rotate the strike and struggled to a painstaking 32-ball 13. Umar Akmal then tried his best to get Pakistan back into the match even as the required rate started to climb thanks to the slow going on the part of Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq. Umar did hit two massive sixes in his 24-ball 29 before he played all over an Harbhajan Singh arm ball to be clean bowled, and then Munaf, who impressed as the match went on, got into the act too as he cleaned up Abdul Razzaq with an excellent slower ball to leave Pakistan gasping at 150 for 6 in the 37th over.
The final nail in the coffin was delivered when Afridi (19 in 17 balls) gave an easy catch to Virender Sehwag at cover off a high Harbhajan full toss with Pakistan 184 for 7 in the 42nd over. Nehra, who mixed things nicely up towards the end of the match then had Riaz caught at cover and then trapped Umar Gul LBW, the decision of which was upheld on review. Misbah, who was last man out for 56 caught at midwicket by Virat Kohli, did his best to get Pakistan back into the match in the batting power play, but it was too little and too late for Afridi's team and they really have themselves to blame for leaving the batting power play so inexplicably late in their innings and letting the match get out of their grasp in the middle overs. Misbah did try to increase his scoring run rate in the end, but his slow and tedious going early in his innings all but ensured Pakistan would have a mountain to climb. All of India's bowlers took two wickets each, but Nehra (2-33), Munaf (2-40) and Harbhajan (2-43) did well.
Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar didn't get to his 100th international century, and probably that was for the best, because this innings was far from being the in-control knocks that he has played for most of his career. Even then, Tendulkar top-scored with 85 in India's total of 260 for 9, but had the butter-fingers of Misbah-ul-aq, Younis and the Akmal brothers to score those many runs in the first place, and, in the final analysis, it would come back to haunt Pakistan.
Tendulkar was on 27 when Misbah dropped a catch at short-mid wicket off Afridi; and when on 45, Younis dropped a straightforward chance at mid-off with Afridi again being the unfortunate bowler. The Indian batting legend had earlier been adjudged out LBW by umpire Ian Gould off Saeed Ajmal when he was on 23, but the decision was overturned on review, as the ball would have just missed the leg stump; and off the very next ball the third umpire ruled Tendulkar not out following a stumping appeal by Kamran Akmal.
Tendulkar did hit some of his trademark boundaries in his knock, but for the most part it was a patchy and chancy innings, and at times it appeared he wasn't really enjoying being out in the middle. Tendulkar though rotated the strike and strung together partnerships of some accord with Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli for the second and third wickets even as he brought up yet another half-century, this one off 67 balls when he hit an Afridi delivery over extra cover for a boundary. He was then to be given two more reprieves when Kamran failed to hold on to an edge off an Afridi delivery, and then again on 81 when the wicket-keeper's younger brother Umar failed to hold on to a catch at short mid-wicket despite leaping and getting both his hands to a checked drive off Mohammad Hafeez.
Indian captain MS Dhoni earlier won the toss and elected to bat and the Indian innings got off to an electrifying start courtesy Sehwag, who hit five boundaries off the third over of the match bowled by Pakistan's spearhead Umar Gul, who leaked 41 runs in his first four overs. Sehwag's breezy 25-ball 38, which contained nine hits to the fence, was brought to an end by the impressive Riaz, who trapped the Indian opener plumb in front with a short of length delivery. Sehwag challenged umpire Simon Taufel's decision without consulting Tendulkar, and it turned out to be an unnecessary review in the end.
Tendulkar and Gambhir then added 68 runs for the second wicket at almost a run a ball, with the southpaw looking more at ease than his senior partner, who found the going tough, especially against Ajmal. But, just when it looked as though Gambhir (27) and Tendulkar would take India to a position of strength, the former was stumped by Kamran off a flighted Hafeez delivery with the score 116 for 2 in the 19th over. Virat Kohli, who had an excellent start to the 2011 World Cup, has struggled for runs in recent matches, and that trend continued in the semi-finals where he looked ill at ease before Riaz had him caught by Umar at backward point and the left-arm pacer gave Pakistan more reason to celebrate off the very next delivery when he castled Yuvraj Singh with a full swinging delivery as India's in-form batsman walked back to the pavilion for a first-ball duck even as the co-hosts slipped to 141 for 4 from 116 for 2.
Dhoni had said before the match that his form wasn't a concern, but the manner in which he struggled during his 42-ball 25 belied the confidence the skipper had in his own form. In all, Dhoni played 25 dot balls in his innings, an apt reflection of his struggles at the crease, and the two boundaries he hit were edged through the vacant slip region. At the other end, meanwhile, Tendulkar continued to lead a charmed life, before he was finally caught by Afridi off Ajmal with the score 187 for 5 in 37 overs. Tendulkar's 115-ball 85 contained 11 boundaries, but also included a massive 71 dot balls.
Riaz (5-46) then returned to dismiss Dhoni and Zaheer as he picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in one-day internationals even as Suresh Raina played a lone hand in the lower middle-order with a 39-ball 36 that gave the Indian innings some impetus in the batting power play in which India scored 43 runs for the loss of Harbhajan Singh's wicket who was stumped off Ajmal. While Riaz impressed, Gul struggled in his second spell as well and eventually Pakistan spearhead's failed for the first time in the World Cup, albeit in an important match, and had figures of 8-0-69-0. Afridi failed to take any wickets, but Hafeez (1-34) was the most economical of Pakistan's bowlers and kept things in the middle overs.
But, in the end, India did enough to maintain their dominance over Pakistan in World Cups and give the full house in Mohali a lot to cheer about. All eyes will now be focused at the Wankhede Stadium on April 2, where either India or Sri Lanka will win their second World Cup title.
Chasing a target of 261, Pakistan was never in the hunt as they lost wickets at regular intervals even as only Misbah-ul-Haq scored a half-century and they were eventually bowled out for 231 in 49.5 overs.
Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez got Pakistan's run chase of 261 off to a steady start without taking too many risks, before the wicket keeper-batsman chased a full Zaheer Khan delivery outside off stump as he tried to play his favourite shot, the square drive. Instead, he only succeeded in slicing a catch to Yuvraj Singh at point to give India a much-needed breakthrough in the ninth over courtesy its most consistent bowler after Pakistan's openers had got 44 runs on the board.
Hafeez and Asad Shafiq then took on the task of getting Pakistan back on track and were hardly troubled by either Munaf Patel or Ashish Nehra ( a surprise inclusion in place of R Ashwin), who despite keeping the runs in check didn't look threatening enough to take a wicket. In fact, if it weren't for a brain freeze moment on Hafeez's part, who looked comfortable and had scored 43 including seven hits to the fence despite hardly taking any risks, chose to play a paddle sweep off Munaf and only managed to get an edge to Dhoni behind the stumps as both Pakistan's openers gifted away their wickets.
The onus then fell on Shafiq, who rotated the strike and looked good in the middle, and the experienced Younis Khan to get Pakistan back on track, but Yuvraj made up for his failure with the bat by dismissing both the batsmen in consecutive overs to shift the advantage back India's way. While Yuvraj clean bowled Shafiq (30) with a straight ball, he had Younis caught at cover by Suresh Raina with Pakistan 106 for 4 in the 26th over. Yuvraj (2-57) played the role of the fifth bowler and while he was a tad expensive, he did the job that was asked of him.
Younis has been a consistent performer against India, but in this crunch match he failed to get going and continued his poor form in the 2011 World Cup as he failed to rotate the strike and struggled to a painstaking 32-ball 13. Umar Akmal then tried his best to get Pakistan back into the match even as the required rate started to climb thanks to the slow going on the part of Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq. Umar did hit two massive sixes in his 24-ball 29 before he played all over an Harbhajan Singh arm ball to be clean bowled, and then Munaf, who impressed as the match went on, got into the act too as he cleaned up Abdul Razzaq with an excellent slower ball to leave Pakistan gasping at 150 for 6 in the 37th over.
The final nail in the coffin was delivered when Afridi (19 in 17 balls) gave an easy catch to Virender Sehwag at cover off a high Harbhajan full toss with Pakistan 184 for 7 in the 42nd over. Nehra, who mixed things nicely up towards the end of the match then had Riaz caught at cover and then trapped Umar Gul LBW, the decision of which was upheld on review. Misbah, who was last man out for 56 caught at midwicket by Virat Kohli, did his best to get Pakistan back into the match in the batting power play, but it was too little and too late for Afridi's team and they really have themselves to blame for leaving the batting power play so inexplicably late in their innings and letting the match get out of their grasp in the middle overs. Misbah did try to increase his scoring run rate in the end, but his slow and tedious going early in his innings all but ensured Pakistan would have a mountain to climb. All of India's bowlers took two wickets each, but Nehra (2-33), Munaf (2-40) and Harbhajan (2-43) did well.
Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar didn't get to his 100th international century, and probably that was for the best, because this innings was far from being the in-control knocks that he has played for most of his career. Even then, Tendulkar top-scored with 85 in India's total of 260 for 9, but had the butter-fingers of Misbah-ul-aq, Younis and the Akmal brothers to score those many runs in the first place, and, in the final analysis, it would come back to haunt Pakistan.
Tendulkar was on 27 when Misbah dropped a catch at short-mid wicket off Afridi; and when on 45, Younis dropped a straightforward chance at mid-off with Afridi again being the unfortunate bowler. The Indian batting legend had earlier been adjudged out LBW by umpire Ian Gould off Saeed Ajmal when he was on 23, but the decision was overturned on review, as the ball would have just missed the leg stump; and off the very next ball the third umpire ruled Tendulkar not out following a stumping appeal by Kamran Akmal.
Tendulkar did hit some of his trademark boundaries in his knock, but for the most part it was a patchy and chancy innings, and at times it appeared he wasn't really enjoying being out in the middle. Tendulkar though rotated the strike and strung together partnerships of some accord with Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli for the second and third wickets even as he brought up yet another half-century, this one off 67 balls when he hit an Afridi delivery over extra cover for a boundary. He was then to be given two more reprieves when Kamran failed to hold on to an edge off an Afridi delivery, and then again on 81 when the wicket-keeper's younger brother Umar failed to hold on to a catch at short mid-wicket despite leaping and getting both his hands to a checked drive off Mohammad Hafeez.
Indian captain MS Dhoni earlier won the toss and elected to bat and the Indian innings got off to an electrifying start courtesy Sehwag, who hit five boundaries off the third over of the match bowled by Pakistan's spearhead Umar Gul, who leaked 41 runs in his first four overs. Sehwag's breezy 25-ball 38, which contained nine hits to the fence, was brought to an end by the impressive Riaz, who trapped the Indian opener plumb in front with a short of length delivery. Sehwag challenged umpire Simon Taufel's decision without consulting Tendulkar, and it turned out to be an unnecessary review in the end.
Tendulkar and Gambhir then added 68 runs for the second wicket at almost a run a ball, with the southpaw looking more at ease than his senior partner, who found the going tough, especially against Ajmal. But, just when it looked as though Gambhir (27) and Tendulkar would take India to a position of strength, the former was stumped by Kamran off a flighted Hafeez delivery with the score 116 for 2 in the 19th over. Virat Kohli, who had an excellent start to the 2011 World Cup, has struggled for runs in recent matches, and that trend continued in the semi-finals where he looked ill at ease before Riaz had him caught by Umar at backward point and the left-arm pacer gave Pakistan more reason to celebrate off the very next delivery when he castled Yuvraj Singh with a full swinging delivery as India's in-form batsman walked back to the pavilion for a first-ball duck even as the co-hosts slipped to 141 for 4 from 116 for 2.
Dhoni had said before the match that his form wasn't a concern, but the manner in which he struggled during his 42-ball 25 belied the confidence the skipper had in his own form. In all, Dhoni played 25 dot balls in his innings, an apt reflection of his struggles at the crease, and the two boundaries he hit were edged through the vacant slip region. At the other end, meanwhile, Tendulkar continued to lead a charmed life, before he was finally caught by Afridi off Ajmal with the score 187 for 5 in 37 overs. Tendulkar's 115-ball 85 contained 11 boundaries, but also included a massive 71 dot balls.
Riaz (5-46) then returned to dismiss Dhoni and Zaheer as he picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in one-day internationals even as Suresh Raina played a lone hand in the lower middle-order with a 39-ball 36 that gave the Indian innings some impetus in the batting power play in which India scored 43 runs for the loss of Harbhajan Singh's wicket who was stumped off Ajmal. While Riaz impressed, Gul struggled in his second spell as well and eventually Pakistan spearhead's failed for the first time in the World Cup, albeit in an important match, and had figures of 8-0-69-0. Afridi failed to take any wickets, but Hafeez (1-34) was the most economical of Pakistan's bowlers and kept things in the middle overs.
But, in the end, India did enough to maintain their dominance over Pakistan in World Cups and give the full house in Mohali a lot to cheer about. All eyes will now be focused at the Wankhede Stadium on April 2, where either India or Sri Lanka will win their second World Cup title.
India maintain WC domination over Pak, enter final
India extended its unbeaten streak in World Cups over Pakistan to five matches as MS Dhoni's team defeated Shahid Afridi's boys by 29 runs in the second semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup at Mohali tonight to set up a final clash with Sri Lanka on April 2.
Chasing a target of 261, Pakistan was never in the hunt as they lost wickets at regular intervals even as only Misbah-ul-Haq scored a half-century and they were eventually bowled out for 231 in 49.5 overs.
Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez got Pakistan's run chase of 261 off to a steady start without taking too many risks, before the wicket keeper-batsman chased a full Zaheer Khan delivery outside off stump as he tried to play his favourite shot, the square drive. Instead, he only succeeded in slicing a catch to Yuvraj Singh at point to give India a much-needed breakthrough in the ninth over courtesy its most consistent bowler after Pakistan's openers had got 44 runs on the board.
Hafeez and Asad Shafiq then took on the task of getting Pakistan back on track and were hardly troubled by either Munaf Patel or Ashish Nehra ( a surprise inclusion in place of R Ashwin), who despite keeping the runs in check didn't look threatening enough to take a wicket. In fact, if it weren't for a brain freeze moment on Hafeez's part, who looked comfortable and had scored 43 including seven hits to the fence despite hardly taking any risks, chose to play a paddle sweep off Munaf and only managed to get an edge to Dhoni behind the stumps as both Pakistan's openers gifted away their wickets.
The onus then fell on Shafiq, who rotated the strike and looked good in the middle, and the experienced Younis Khan to get Pakistan back on track, but Yuvraj made up for his failure with the bat by dismissing both the batsmen in consecutive overs to shift the advantage back India's way. While Yuvraj clean bowled Shafiq (30) with a straight ball, he had Younis caught at cover by Suresh Raina with Pakistan 106 for 4 in the 26th over. Yuvraj (2-57) played the role of the fifth bowler and while he was a tad expensive, he did the job that was asked of him.
Younis has been a consistent performer against India, but in this crunch match he failed to get going and continued his poor form in the 2011 World Cup as he failed to rotate the strike and struggled to a painstaking 32-ball 13. Umar Akmal then tried his best to get Pakistan back into the match even as the required rate started to climb thanks to the slow going on the part of Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq. Umar did hit two massive sixes in his 24-ball 29 before he played all over an Harbhajan Singh arm ball to be clean bowled, and then Munaf, who impressed as the match went on, got into the act too as he cleaned up Abdul Razzaq with an excellent slower ball to leave Pakistan gasping at 150 for 6 in the 37th over.
The final nail in the coffin was delivered when Afridi (19 in 17 balls) gave an easy catch to Virender Sehwag at cover off a high Harbhajan full toss with Pakistan 184 for 7 in the 42nd over. Nehra, who mixed things nicely up towards the end of the match then had Riaz caught at cover and then trapped Umar Gul LBW, the decision of which was upheld on review. Misbah, who was last man out for 56 caught at midwicket by Virat Kohli, did his best to get Pakistan back into the match in the batting power play, but it was too little and too late for Afridi's team and they really have themselves to blame for leaving the batting power play so inexplicably late in their innings and letting the match get out of their grasp in the middle overs. Misbah did try to increase his scoring run rate in the end, but his slow and tedious going early in his innings all but ensured Pakistan would have a mountain to climb. All of India's bowlers took two wickets each, but Nehra (2-33), Munaf (2-40) and Harbhajan (2-43) did well.
Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar didn't get to his 100th international century, and probably that was for the best, because this innings was far from being the in-control knocks that he has played for most of his career. Even then, Tendulkar top-scored with 85 in India's total of 260 for 9, but had the butter-fingers of Misbah-ul-aq, Younis and the Akmal brothers to score those many runs in the first place, and, in the final analysis, it would come back to haunt Pakistan.
Tendulkar was on 27 when Misbah dropped a catch at short-mid wicket off Afridi; and when on 45, Younis dropped a straightforward chance at mid-off with Afridi again being the unfortunate bowler. The Indian batting legend had earlier been adjudged out LBW by umpire Ian Gould off Saeed Ajmal when he was on 23, but the decision was overturned on review, as the ball would have just missed the leg stump; and off the very next ball the third umpire ruled Tendulkar not out following a stumping appeal by Kamran Akmal.
Tendulkar did hit some of his trademark boundaries in his knock, but for the most part it was a patchy and chancy innings, and at times it appeared he wasn't really enjoying being out in the middle. Tendulkar though rotated the strike and strung together partnerships of some accord with Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli for the second and third wickets even as he brought up yet another half-century, this one off 67 balls when he hit an Afridi delivery over extra cover for a boundary. He was then to be given two more reprieves when Kamran failed to hold on to an edge off an Afridi delivery, and then again on 81 when the wicket-keeper's younger brother Umar failed to hold on to a catch at short mid-wicket despite leaping and getting both his hands to a checked drive off Mohammad Hafeez.
Indian captain MS Dhoni earlier won the toss and elected to bat and the Indian innings got off to an electrifying start courtesy Sehwag, who hit five boundaries off the third over of the match bowled by Pakistan's spearhead Umar Gul, who leaked 41 runs in his first four overs. Sehwag's breezy 25-ball 38, which contained nine hits to the fence, was brought to an end by the impressive Riaz, who trapped the Indian opener plumb in front with a short of length delivery. Sehwag challenged umpire Simon Taufel's decision without consulting Tendulkar, and it turned out to be an unnecessary review in the end.
Tendulkar and Gambhir then added 68 runs for the second wicket at almost a run a ball, with the southpaw looking more at ease than his senior partner, who found the going tough, especially against Ajmal. But, just when it looked as though Gambhir (27) and Tendulkar would take India to a position of strength, the former was stumped by Kamran off a flighted Hafeez delivery with the score 116 for 2 in the 19th over. Virat Kohli, who had an excellent start to the 2011 World Cup, has struggled for runs in recent matches, and that trend continued in the semi-finals where he looked ill at ease before Riaz had him caught by Umar at backward point and the left-arm pacer gave Pakistan more reason to celebrate off the very next delivery when he castled Yuvraj Singh with a full swinging delivery as India's in-form batsman walked back to the pavilion for a first-ball duck even as the co-hosts slipped to 141 for 4 from 116 for 2.
Dhoni had said before the match that his form wasn't a concern, but the manner in which he struggled during his 42-ball 25 belied the confidence the skipper had in his own form. In all, Dhoni played 25 dot balls in his innings, an apt reflection of his struggles at the crease, and the two boundaries he hit were edged through the vacant slip region. At the other end, meanwhile, Tendulkar continued to lead a charmed life, before he was finally caught by Afridi off Ajmal with the score 187 for 5 in 37 overs. Tendulkar's 115-ball 85 contained 11 boundaries, but also included a massive 71 dot balls.
Riaz (5-46) then returned to dismiss Dhoni and Zaheer as he picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in one-day internationals even as Suresh Raina played a lone hand in the lower middle-order with a 39-ball 36 that gave the Indian innings some impetus in the batting power play in which India scored 43 runs for the loss of Harbhajan Singh's wicket who was stumped off Ajmal. While Riaz impressed, Gul struggled in his second spell as well and eventually Pakistan spearhead's failed for the first time in the World Cup, albeit in an important match, and had figures of 8-0-69-0. Afridi failed to take any wickets, but Hafeez (1-34) was the most economical of Pakistan's bowlers and kept things in the middle overs.
But, in the end, India did enough to maintain their dominance over Pakistan in World Cups and give the full house in Mohali a lot to cheer about. All eyes will now be focused at the Wankhede Stadium on April 2, where either India or Sri Lanka will win their second World Cup title.
Chasing a target of 261, Pakistan was never in the hunt as they lost wickets at regular intervals even as only Misbah-ul-Haq scored a half-century and they were eventually bowled out for 231 in 49.5 overs.
Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez got Pakistan's run chase of 261 off to a steady start without taking too many risks, before the wicket keeper-batsman chased a full Zaheer Khan delivery outside off stump as he tried to play his favourite shot, the square drive. Instead, he only succeeded in slicing a catch to Yuvraj Singh at point to give India a much-needed breakthrough in the ninth over courtesy its most consistent bowler after Pakistan's openers had got 44 runs on the board.
Hafeez and Asad Shafiq then took on the task of getting Pakistan back on track and were hardly troubled by either Munaf Patel or Ashish Nehra ( a surprise inclusion in place of R Ashwin), who despite keeping the runs in check didn't look threatening enough to take a wicket. In fact, if it weren't for a brain freeze moment on Hafeez's part, who looked comfortable and had scored 43 including seven hits to the fence despite hardly taking any risks, chose to play a paddle sweep off Munaf and only managed to get an edge to Dhoni behind the stumps as both Pakistan's openers gifted away their wickets.
The onus then fell on Shafiq, who rotated the strike and looked good in the middle, and the experienced Younis Khan to get Pakistan back on track, but Yuvraj made up for his failure with the bat by dismissing both the batsmen in consecutive overs to shift the advantage back India's way. While Yuvraj clean bowled Shafiq (30) with a straight ball, he had Younis caught at cover by Suresh Raina with Pakistan 106 for 4 in the 26th over. Yuvraj (2-57) played the role of the fifth bowler and while he was a tad expensive, he did the job that was asked of him.
Younis has been a consistent performer against India, but in this crunch match he failed to get going and continued his poor form in the 2011 World Cup as he failed to rotate the strike and struggled to a painstaking 32-ball 13. Umar Akmal then tried his best to get Pakistan back into the match even as the required rate started to climb thanks to the slow going on the part of Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq. Umar did hit two massive sixes in his 24-ball 29 before he played all over an Harbhajan Singh arm ball to be clean bowled, and then Munaf, who impressed as the match went on, got into the act too as he cleaned up Abdul Razzaq with an excellent slower ball to leave Pakistan gasping at 150 for 6 in the 37th over.
The final nail in the coffin was delivered when Afridi (19 in 17 balls) gave an easy catch to Virender Sehwag at cover off a high Harbhajan full toss with Pakistan 184 for 7 in the 42nd over. Nehra, who mixed things nicely up towards the end of the match then had Riaz caught at cover and then trapped Umar Gul LBW, the decision of which was upheld on review. Misbah, who was last man out for 56 caught at midwicket by Virat Kohli, did his best to get Pakistan back into the match in the batting power play, but it was too little and too late for Afridi's team and they really have themselves to blame for leaving the batting power play so inexplicably late in their innings and letting the match get out of their grasp in the middle overs. Misbah did try to increase his scoring run rate in the end, but his slow and tedious going early in his innings all but ensured Pakistan would have a mountain to climb. All of India's bowlers took two wickets each, but Nehra (2-33), Munaf (2-40) and Harbhajan (2-43) did well.
Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar didn't get to his 100th international century, and probably that was for the best, because this innings was far from being the in-control knocks that he has played for most of his career. Even then, Tendulkar top-scored with 85 in India's total of 260 for 9, but had the butter-fingers of Misbah-ul-aq, Younis and the Akmal brothers to score those many runs in the first place, and, in the final analysis, it would come back to haunt Pakistan.
Tendulkar was on 27 when Misbah dropped a catch at short-mid wicket off Afridi; and when on 45, Younis dropped a straightforward chance at mid-off with Afridi again being the unfortunate bowler. The Indian batting legend had earlier been adjudged out LBW by umpire Ian Gould off Saeed Ajmal when he was on 23, but the decision was overturned on review, as the ball would have just missed the leg stump; and off the very next ball the third umpire ruled Tendulkar not out following a stumping appeal by Kamran Akmal.
Tendulkar did hit some of his trademark boundaries in his knock, but for the most part it was a patchy and chancy innings, and at times it appeared he wasn't really enjoying being out in the middle. Tendulkar though rotated the strike and strung together partnerships of some accord with Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli for the second and third wickets even as he brought up yet another half-century, this one off 67 balls when he hit an Afridi delivery over extra cover for a boundary. He was then to be given two more reprieves when Kamran failed to hold on to an edge off an Afridi delivery, and then again on 81 when the wicket-keeper's younger brother Umar failed to hold on to a catch at short mid-wicket despite leaping and getting both his hands to a checked drive off Mohammad Hafeez.
Indian captain MS Dhoni earlier won the toss and elected to bat and the Indian innings got off to an electrifying start courtesy Sehwag, who hit five boundaries off the third over of the match bowled by Pakistan's spearhead Umar Gul, who leaked 41 runs in his first four overs. Sehwag's breezy 25-ball 38, which contained nine hits to the fence, was brought to an end by the impressive Riaz, who trapped the Indian opener plumb in front with a short of length delivery. Sehwag challenged umpire Simon Taufel's decision without consulting Tendulkar, and it turned out to be an unnecessary review in the end.
Tendulkar and Gambhir then added 68 runs for the second wicket at almost a run a ball, with the southpaw looking more at ease than his senior partner, who found the going tough, especially against Ajmal. But, just when it looked as though Gambhir (27) and Tendulkar would take India to a position of strength, the former was stumped by Kamran off a flighted Hafeez delivery with the score 116 for 2 in the 19th over. Virat Kohli, who had an excellent start to the 2011 World Cup, has struggled for runs in recent matches, and that trend continued in the semi-finals where he looked ill at ease before Riaz had him caught by Umar at backward point and the left-arm pacer gave Pakistan more reason to celebrate off the very next delivery when he castled Yuvraj Singh with a full swinging delivery as India's in-form batsman walked back to the pavilion for a first-ball duck even as the co-hosts slipped to 141 for 4 from 116 for 2.
Dhoni had said before the match that his form wasn't a concern, but the manner in which he struggled during his 42-ball 25 belied the confidence the skipper had in his own form. In all, Dhoni played 25 dot balls in his innings, an apt reflection of his struggles at the crease, and the two boundaries he hit were edged through the vacant slip region. At the other end, meanwhile, Tendulkar continued to lead a charmed life, before he was finally caught by Afridi off Ajmal with the score 187 for 5 in 37 overs. Tendulkar's 115-ball 85 contained 11 boundaries, but also included a massive 71 dot balls.
Riaz (5-46) then returned to dismiss Dhoni and Zaheer as he picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in one-day internationals even as Suresh Raina played a lone hand in the lower middle-order with a 39-ball 36 that gave the Indian innings some impetus in the batting power play in which India scored 43 runs for the loss of Harbhajan Singh's wicket who was stumped off Ajmal. While Riaz impressed, Gul struggled in his second spell as well and eventually Pakistan spearhead's failed for the first time in the World Cup, albeit in an important match, and had figures of 8-0-69-0. Afridi failed to take any wickets, but Hafeez (1-34) was the most economical of Pakistan's bowlers and kept things in the middle overs.
But, in the end, India did enough to maintain their dominance over Pakistan in World Cups and give the full house in Mohali a lot to cheer about. All eyes will now be focused at the Wankhede Stadium on April 2, where either India or Sri Lanka will win their second World Cup title.
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