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Yuvraj scripts an
Indo-Pak Final at Jo'burg! |
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Scorecard
It's going to be an
Indo-Pak Final at Jo'burg in this exciting
inaugural Twenty20 World Championship with both
teams winning their respective semi-finalists.
India have made this possible with a sensational
performance against the Cricket World's Power
House - Australia. Fire was met with fire and
the bull was taken by its horn as far as the
Indians were concerned. Yuvraj Singh made all
the difference by first managing to play this
match and then taking 30 balls to smash score an
unbelievable 70. Aussies looked comfortable in
their chase of 189 until they lost a few
important wickets at the wrong time and in T20
matches can quickly change in any team's favour!
The first Semi-Final which was between New
Zealand and Pakistan turned out to be a
disappointing affair after the Kiwis crumbled
under the pressure first with the bat and then
the bowling looked lackluster.
Yuvraj
Singh was just about okay to play this Semi
Final at Durban and Dinesh Karthik had to give
him way. Aussies replaced the injured Shane
Watson with Brad Haddin. India continued with
its formula of winning the toss and batting
first. Sehwag had early problems with his groin
which saw him use Rohit Sharma as his runner and
the second problem that he had was the short
pitch stuff that kept on coming back sharply
into his body. Apart from a delightful square
drive, Sehwag's stay was more of a struggle
which came to an end in the 6th over with India
putting on 30. Gautam Gambhir was the hope for
India as he struck a few boundaries but in the
8th over, his cleanly struck pull shot was
caught nicely by Brad Hodge. Gambhir got 24 from
25 with 4 fours. India were now in the business
end of their innings and Yuvraj provided the
momentum with a hook shot off Stuart Clark for a
six which was just the second ball he had faced
and there was no looking back at all. Robin
Uthappa too got inspired by Yuve's arrogance and
he as well got a hook shot out of the park.
Yuvraj's next six was a pick up shot off Lee
that went 119 meters away towards mid wicket to
be the biggest six of the tournament. In the
next over, India 19 out of Symonds' first over
to put Gilchrist under lot of pressure.
The partnership between
Yuvraj and Uthappa provided the platform for a
bigger score and even when the latter was run
out it really didn't halt the progress.
Uthappa's was a useful innings of 34 from 28
which came with the help of three sixes! Yuvraj
smashed five sixes along with as many fours in
his innings of 70 in 30 balls which came to an
end in the 18th over. Dhoni (36 from 18 with 4
fours and a six) and Rohit Sharma with their
clean hitting lifted India to 188 for 5. Brett
Lee was the only economical bowler conceding 25
in his 4 but he failed to take any wickets which
was what mattered.
It
was the best opportunity for the Indians to beat
Australia after their batsmen had given them the
cushion of a good total. Things started to look
bad for India when Gilchrist started to play his
attacking shots off RP Singh but the left
hander's poor footwork allowed Sreesanth to go
through his defences. Gilly made 22 in 13 with
two sixes and with his wicket Sreesanth was
fired up and so fired up that he kept on going
after Hayden with long stares and the occasional
exchange of words. Hayden started to show the
respect to Sreesanth's seaming deliveries so
much so that the bowler ended up with a first
spell of 3-1-6-1!
The problem
for India was Joginder Sharma, the weak link and
in his first over was taken for 18 runs which
took Aussies to 64 for 1 in 8. Pathan gave a
hope for his team in the next over with the
wicket of Hodge but that only got another
monster in Symonds to join the monstrous Matt
Hayden. Pathan went for two sixes against these
two bullies and now it was really about fours
and sixes which made it look so simple for
Aussies. Yet there was a hope with the equation
still at 60 to win from 36 balls, a couple of
wickets meant that it was anyone's game. And
Sreesanth returned back to clean up the
furniture of Hayden from round the sticks to
once again bring back the energy and the spirit
back in his team mates. Hayden got 62 in 47 with
4 fours and 4 sixes.
Hayden
might have gone but there was still Andrew
Symonds in the middle. In the 17th over, Irfan
Pathan replaced Sreesanth and in his second ball
was clobbered for a six by Mr. Cricket - Michael
Hussey. But the left hander came back
brilliantly by uprooting the off stump of Andrew
Symonds in the fourth ball and that got the
equation to 33 from 21. Symonds made 43 in 26
with 3 fours and 2 sixes. In the next over,
Harbhajan cleaned up Michael Clarke with a
quicker yorker length delivery and then followed
it up with a few more balls in the crease to
make it 27 from the last two overs! RP Singh
kept his cool like he always does to give away
just the five runs in the penultimate over which
got India in a sure win situation. Joginder
Sharma was given the final over with 22 to win
and nobody from Australia could pull out any
magic to get those runs. Joginder enjoyed the
moment by taking a couple of wickets in the over
and Aussies were short by 15 runs. Yuvraj was
once again the Man of the Match.
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