Never got five 'lives' in one innings: Sachin

Mohali: Sachin Tendulkar was honest in admitting that never in his 21-year career has he got reprieve as many as five times in one innings.

"Five lives! God has been kind to me. It is not something which has happened to me earlier," Tendulkar said during a post match interview.

About the upcoming final against Sri Lanka, Tendulkar said, "Hopefully, we will put our best performance in all three departments. Sri Lanka are a great team. They play well and know the conditions well. It will be a wonderful occasion to play the final in Mumbai. All we would like is to remain calm and focussed and get the job done."

For someone who has been a member of the side that has won all its five World Cup matches against Pakistan, the legendary batsman was quick to admit that it would be a "memory that he would always cherish."

Someone who has always put the team before individual performance, Tendulkar lavished praise on young Suresh Raina whose unbeaten 36 provided necessary impetus during the death overs.

"Raina played a special knock. When we started batting, I felt that 310-315 was par-score. But as the spinners came on the ball was stopping and coming. Then I thought that 265-270 will be a good score to defend," Tendulkar stated.

For him Virender Sehwag's blitzkrieg at the onset gave him and others that extra bit of time to check out on how to proceed with the innings.

"Viru got us off to a flier but then we needed to assess the situation. It was a difficult wicket to bat on and we needed to put up a good score. Full credit to our bowlers as they put up a fabulous show."

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni also spoke in the same vein about how the wicket slowly became difficult to bat on as the match progressed.

"If you take the opening partnership out, you would find that 260 was a good score to defend. May be we could have got another 20-30 runs," was what the skipper assessed.

The skipper admitted that his reading of the pitch was wrong but his seamers did a good job.

"We read the pitch wrong but then our seamers bowled exceptionally well. That is why I didn't need to use a sixth bowler. We don't have any bowler who regularly hits 140 plus.

"We have bowlers who have variations and can change plan accordingly. Ashish is a rhythm bowler and Zak (Zaheer) is really good with his variation. Even Munaf's strength is bowling wicket to wicket as he has become really smart after playing in IPL."

India Pak up the semis. Mumbai here we come.

Mohali: India kept their unbeaten World Cup record against Pakistan intact as they beat the arch rivals by 29 runs in the second semifinal here on Wednesday.

Earlier, Pakistan openers Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez looked in no trouble whatsoever as MS Dhoni chose to open the bowling with Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra to defend a competitive 260.

The Pakistani duo reached 44 runs in the ninth over and looked in no trouble whatsover. But just when the two openers relaxed, Zaheer skittled out the dangerous Kamran (19), who was caught at point by Yuvraj Singh.

Hafeez and Shafiq then buckled down in an attempt to play out a spell of tight overs by Indian bowlers, where Munaf, after bowling a maiden over, came back in the next over to remove a set Hafeez (43 off 59 balls) who played a loose shot off a wide delivery. The ball took an edge and went straight into Dhoni's gloves.

Youngster Shafiq and veteral Younis Khan then too the score past 100 and looked to stead Pakistan innings after Hafeez's wicket.

But Dhoni kept ringing changes and brought India's man of the World Cup Yuvraj Singh to bowl his left-armers.

Yuvraj began well to keep Pakistanis under control and then struck two decision blows. First, he castled Shafiq (30) and then in his next over lured Younis (13) into a drive that was nicely caught by a leaping Suresh Raina in the covers.

That brought Umar Akmal on the crease and the youngster's hit-all approach made the pitch look totally different.

He took on India's top wicket-taker Yuvraj and hit him for a couple of sixes during an innings that started taking a match-winning shape.

Dhoni got his boys together on the second drinks break and his midas touch once again did the trick, twice

First it was Harbhajan, who struck first ball after the break by ending Umar's threatening stay at the crease after he had made 29 off just 24 balls.

Munaf's perseverence with line and length too paid him as he removed the dangerous Abdul Razaaq (3) for his second wicket of the innings.

All this while, Misbah-ul-Haq was playing the most perplexing innings, eating up deliveries by blocking and blocking.

Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi then walked in with the hopes of Pakistan resting on his and Misbah's shoulders.

The seasoned duo took the score from 150/6 to 184/4 and for the first time in the World Cup, Afridi looked to be getting his act together.

The Pakistan captain reached 19 off 17 balls but then they say, old habits die hard. The 'Boom Boom' man hit a Harbhajan delivery straight up and the skier was taken comfortably by Sehwag. Afridi, the seventh Pakistani wicket, gone for 184.

Wahab Riaz (8) was in next and he was also the one to go next: dismissed for eight by Ashish Nehra as Sachin took the catch.

In the afternoon, Virender Sehwag got India off to a rampant start after MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat first.

Sehwag hit Umar Gul for five boundaries in the pacer's second over and also brought up his 1000 runs against Pakistan. Meanwhile, India raced to 50 in the fifth over of the innings.

But Afridi's decision to bring on left-armer Riaz into the attack brought immediate result as the quickie took out a dangerous Sehwag after the Indian opener had made a brisk 38 runs of 25 balls.

Sehwag immediately called for a review of Simon Taufel's decision, but it remained unsuccessful.

On the other end, Sachin Tendulkar looked pretty assured and took India to 73/1 in 10 overs, after which two deliveries stopped India's heart.

Tendulkar looked out for all money on an lbw appeal by off-spinner Saeed Ajmal but the master, after consulting Gautam Gambhir, took a review which turned out to be successful.

But off the very next ball, Kamran Akmal's smart glovework seemed to have caught Sachin out of his ground but once again the TV umpire gave it not out as Sachin seemed to have got his toe back just in the knick of time.

Thereafter, Sachin and Gambhir buckled down to bring up their 50-run partnership that helped India cross the 100-run mark.

Mohammad Hafeez was pressed into service by Afridi in the bowling powerplay where the Pakistani spinners pulled back Indian scoring giving away just 26 runs in overs 11-15.

After putting a lid on scoring, Hafeez drew Gambhir out of his crease to get him stumped and give Pakistan their second wicket. Gambhir made 27.

Gambhir's wicket was shortly followed by another life for Tendulkar, when Younis Khan dropped an easy chance at short cover off Afridi.

After that, Tendulkar's charmed life reached a 95th ODI fifty as Pakistan looked destined for a punishment from the master.

Riaz then came back for his second spell and immediately got reverse swing to put Indian batsmen on guard.

That actually accounted for Kohli (9) who was caught at backward point after being hurried by Riaz. In-form Yuvraj Singh came in next with all eyes on him to give Tendulkar company. But Riaz had a heartbreak planned for Indian fans as he castled Yuvraj (0) off the very next ball to jolt the Indian innings.

A scratchy Dhoni then accompanied Tendulkar as the two decided to buckle down to score in ones and twos.

Sachin, however, continued to live a charmped life with edges flying off his bat until one, at 85, flew straight to Shahid Afridi at short cover who didn't commit the same mistake his team had throughout the afternoon. Saeed Ajmal had finally got his man.

India now needed a partnership from its last recognised pair of MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina but it didn't happen as Wahab Riaz had other ideas in his final spell of the innings.

The left-armer returned in the last 10 overs and struck right away to take his fourth and the Indian innings' sixth wicket in the form of Dhoni, who scored an untidy 25 off 42 balls.

Thereafter, it was about how Raina can hold the tail together for a final flourish.

Raina and Harbhajan Singh chose to take the batting powerplay from overs 45 to 49 and began well taking 22 runs off the first two overs but the wily Ajmal drew his counterpart Harbhajan out of his crease to get him stumped after scoring 12.

At seven down, it was now about playing out the 50 overs, which India finally were able to do with a not-out innings of 36 off 39 balls from Raina.

But it wasn't before Riaz completed his five-wicket haul with the wicket of Zaheer Khan (9).

In the afternoon, the most awaited match of the 2011 World Cup got underway here in the northern Indian city of Mohali with a loud cheer receving the two captains for the toss that MS Dhoni won and decided to bat.

Two nations, one aspiration - World Cup

Mohali: India and Pakistan will come to an absolute standstill when 22 men - carrying the hopes of two emotionally charged-up nations - will put themselves in the line of fire for a place in the World Cup final.

All roads will lead to the northern part of India, where the city of Mohali will host the second semifinal of the 2011 World Cup and the match-up couldn't have been more even.

While expectations soar on both sides of the border, tempers are sure to reach a crescendo and emotions set to drool over when the two teams line up for their national anthems before an epic.

The journey for the two estranged neighbours though hasn't been without a few bumps before and during the World Cup.

Bloodshed in the Pakistan heartland during Sri Lanka's tour there had devastating consequences. The ICC snatched the World Cup holding rights from Pakistan as a penalty and cricket deprivation in terror-infested Pakistan deepened.

Pakistan bit the bullet by dropping the likes of Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik coming into the mega event after surfing over tsunamic tides of match-ixing in England.

Indecisiveness over naming the captain made the PCB look inept at handling team affairs. Only a turnaround in New Zealand helped restore sanity and Shahid Afridi was handed over the reins.

Unexpectedly, Pakistan took the blows on its chin, only to turn back and land a few in the World Cup. Wins over Sri Lanka and Australia lifted the gloom in the Pakistani dressing room. But the unpredictability of Pakistan did raise its head in the close shave against Canada and a hammering at the hands of New Zealand. However, in the quarterfinal, they demolished Caribbean dreams of a revival. And now, they have an Indian mountain to climb in the semifinals.

India's build-up, though more settled, had its fair share of problems. Piyush Chawla's inclusion didn't go down well with the fans, followed by a setback in the form of Praveen Kumar's elbow injury that ruled him out and gave S Sreesanth a new lease of life.

India's ride into the semifinals was far from one associated with tournament favourites. If the tie against England after scoring 338 was a heartbreak, unable to defend 14 runs in the last over against South Africa was depressing. A win in the final league game against West Indies brought back some confidence, which got a boost after Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina held their nerves to beat Australia in the quarterfinals.

And when India's semifinal against Pakistan was confirmed, the whole nation joined a bandwagon where everyone, while getting charged up, started to cash in.

India and Pakistan are not new to the hype that their face-offs generate. However, Indian skipper MS Dhoni downplayed that and urged his teammates to concentrate on the job at hand.

"Well, we know the kind of media hype India-Pakistan matches generate. We are not getting involved in all this. We need to know what we are expected to do and focus on that.

"It is not really affecting us. We all know it is a big tournament and we have prepared a lot. Our preparations have been the same like what we have done in the past few days," said Dhoni.

Commenting on the Pakistan team, Dhoni said they have a balanced bowling attack, which is also in good form.

"They have a good bowling attack. Their seamers and spinners are doing a good job; the part-timers are also doing well. In sub-continental conditions, these players play a role. All-rounders like Abdul Razzak and (Shahid) Afridi give them the liberty to play extra bowlers," he said.

Afridi sounded pretty composed and said the pressure was squarely on India.

"There is no pressure on us and that's why we are enjoying our cricket. We weren't the favourites coming into the tournament. But we have played above expectations. India were always the favourites and certainly the pressure will be on them," said Afridi.

About whether Shoaib Akhtar will play Wednesday's semifinal, Afridi said, "Shoaib is not 100 per cent fit but he is trying his best. We will take a decision on his inclusion this evening."

The occasion will also be graced by the Prime Ministers of the two estranged neighbours, after Yusuf Raza Gilani accepted Manmohan Singh's invitation to watch the match with him.

While politics has once again found cricket as an opportunity for diplomacy, the game will take centrestage on Wednesday when a charged-up Mohali will witness an epic unfold in the middle of the PCA stadium.

Sri Lanka reach 2nd consecutive WC final

Colombo: On an early humid evening, another famous international career was all but brought to an end as Muttiah Muralitharan waved a cap to say goodbye to his adoring Sri Lanka fans at the World Cup semi-final.

As he walked from the Premadasa Stadium oval for the last time to the dancing and jiving of the packed Khettarama venue at the dinner break, he had helped the hosts reduce New Zealand to a less than challenging 217. And as they didn’t even get to bat through the 50 overs, this will be of concern to coach John Wright how the lower order has capitulated in the last three games.

It was always thought to be a total that was 40 to 50 runs short of a challenging target to set Sri Lanka in their a bid to reach a second consecutive World Cup final; this time they face a different side to that which they lost in Barbados in 2007 with Australia falling to India in the quarterfinal at Ahmedabad.

Muralitharan, doubtful before the game because of an a slight hamstring twinge, ended with two for 42 with the wickets of Jesse Ryder and Scott Styris to add to his World Cup tally. He was later chaired around part of the ground by his teammates.

Sri Lanka’s win by five wickets was not without jitters when they lost three wickets in a matter of 26 balls with Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara falling, the Kiwis may have even thought of a repeat of their shock Dhaka win over South Africa. This is where Daniel Vettori, also playing his last ODI as a player and captain, would have felt some chagrin at the low total.

He admitted as much at the post-match media conference when he said the lower-order failed to capitalise on the partnership that Ross Taylor and Scott Styris pulled together for the fourth wicket, adding 77 before Taylor’s hapless dismissal.

Sri Lanka, however, reaching their second successive World Cup final would feel a lot more comfortable with their position as they head for Mumbai and the final with the game turning out to be a lot tougher and tighter than Sangakkara, and man of the match would have liked, and agreed how the game was a lot tougher than he would have liked.

With the rapid departure of three wickets, the dancing and singing in the stands stopped for a while. There was a tense atmosphere as Thilan Samaraweera and Chamara Silva battled against the bowling of Vettori whose removal of Jayawardene for one to an lbw decision and the next delivery almost taking out Silva, brought unexpected nervous jitters to the middle-order.

Up to that point, apart from the departure of Upul Tharanga to a superb catch by Jesse Ryder off the bowling of Tim Southee, the Sri Lanka batting followed that of Saturday’s quarterfinal against England.

The pitch was not as easy to bat on as it had been, although the strokeplay by Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan, showed the form they were in, adding 120 in their partnership to lay the foundation for the victory total of 220 or five.

The thought of a nine-wicket victory did loom until Dilshan, going on the cut aimed a catch at Ryder to give the Kiwis a faint sniff. When Jayawardene fell with the first ball of the 34th over, there as the thought how Sri Lanka’s wobbly middle-order would struggle.

This was more so when Andy McKay collected the Sri Lanka captain’s wicket when he played an uppercut only for Scott Styris to take the catch.

It was a matter of how the batting would handle the pressure with Angelo Mathews making the most of some indifferent bowling by Ryder. This is also where the visitors, having to fly in from Bangladesh by Sri Lanka rested at home, were unable to pull off the victory needed to earn them a World Cup final place.

There was also the farcical end to the game where McKay, bowling to Samaraweera was put off by the premature setting off of fireworks – a totally amateurish effort by authorities – and the ball that the batsman had blitzed for a boundary was called dead ball by Aleem Dar.

While Mathews, batting with Jayawardene as a runner, hammered a four and a six off Southee’s bowling to help close in on the target, there was a thought how Vettori may have bowled himself out in terms of his overs too soon and so lessen the pressure after Sangakkara’s departure.

Vettori’s decision to bat first needed more support from the lower order than he received, as the last five wickets tumbled for only 13 runs in a matter of four overs. Not at all what they needed to make a challenging total. It was mixture of injudicious batting and careless attention to detail.

Such was the capitulation the lessons of the Wankhede defeat had not been learnt despite the claims by the coach John Wright and the comments by Ross Taylor whose own dismissal brought about the lower-order demise. His attempt to pull the Ajantha Mendis delivery over midwicket failed the gain the elevation he needed to clear the boundary.

From that point the innings went into sudden decline with wickets falling at such a rate, a shuttle service was needed between the wicket at the pavilion with Nathan McCullum and Jacob Oram going for big hits but failing to make full use of the elevation and clear what is a big outfield.

While Martin Guptill always looked at ease until bowled by a searing yorker and Ryder needed to display the patience of his innings against South Africa, the Taylor/Styris partnership did much to restore the equilibrium until Taylor’s error in misjudging the midwicket boundary on the scoreboard side of the ground.

From that point, the innings went into decline, despite 41 runs being scored in the batting powerplay for the loss of two wickets.

Ind-Pak mind games begin in Asia super show

New Delhi: India and Pakistan kicked-off the mind games ahead of their World Cup semi-final blockbuster on Sunday while New Zealand attempted to halt a three-pronged Asian assault on the title.

Pakistan, the 1992 champions, insist all the pressure will be on India in Mohali on Wednesday where the hosts' status as tournament favourites will come under scrutiny from a 30,000 crowd made up almost entirely of home support.

"If India were going to win the World Cup, this is their best chance," said Imran Khan, who captained the 1992 Pakistan title-winning team.

"I am not trying to play mind games, but the fact that they are favourites and are playing at home will means they are under more pressure.

"My advice to the Indian team is to take sleeping pills, otherwise they won't be able to sleep," added Imran in his Hindustan Times column.

Pakistan are keen to ramp up the psychological battle, fully aware of the significance of the first meeting of the two rivals on Indian soil since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

They also know that the number of Pakistan fans inside the PCA stadium will be limited to a trickle of VIPs and Pakistan Cricket Board officials.

Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has already made it clear that his side will target Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar who needs one more century to complete 100 international hundreds.

"He will have to wait until after the World Cup. We will make sure no batsman plays a long innings," Afridi told Pakistan's Geo TV.

"India will have more pressure than us. With the crowd cheering every ball, they can get overwhelmed."

However, Pakistan manager Intikhab Alam, a former Test skipper and coach, has appealed for calm.

"Let it remain as cricket and don't make us feel as if we are standing on a war front," he said.

Sri Lanka will hope to make it an all-subcontinent final when they tackle New Zealand in the first semi-final in Colombo on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka, the 1996 champions, made the last four with a 10-wicket rout of England while the Black Caps defied all expectations by defeating South Africa.

New Zealand will be playing in a sixth semi-final.

"It is important to be confident but we should be realistic. New Zealand will be hungry for a place in the final and so are we," said Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara.

Sri Lanka defeated New Zealand by 112 runs in the group stages in a bad-tempered affair where former captain Mahela Jayawardene refused to walk despite claims of a clean catch by Nathan McCullum.

New Zealand's mood was not helped when the decision remianed not out even after a TV review.

England captain Andrew Strauss believes his team's five months on the road eventually undermined their World Cup hopes.

England's rollercoaster tournament ended at the hands of Sri Lanka on Saturday with Strauss insisting it was unrealistic to expect success when players are not given a rest.

After their Ashes victory, England played a seven-match one-day international series in Australia.

That was followed by a brief break at home before the World Cup campaign started in the first week of February.

"It?s a huge amount to ask players to go to Australia for three months, into the highest intensity atmosphere you can get for an English team, and then go straight into a World Cup without players spending time at home," said Strauss.

Sri Lanka crush England, face NZ in semis

Colombo: All the theories of who would have their name etched on the World Cup have been blown apart in a series of results which have a strong Asian flavour.

Only New Zealand remain of the maybe teams and now meet Sri Lanka in the first of the semi-finals at Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday after England exited the quarterfinals on Saturday night in a steamy Khettarama cauldron. They were handed a comprehensive 10 wickets hiding on the back of two centuries in a juggernaut first-wicket partnership which made a major impression on the tournament.

Repeating centuries by Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upal Tharanaga – they did the same against Zimbabwe – helped Sri Lanka to 231 without loss with Dilshan all but crippled by cramp, as records were set in a display of controlled batting by two batsmen who have learnt to compliment one another’s styles.

So, instead of the possibility of a Duckworth/Lewis result that loomed at one stage earlier in the day with showers threatening from the south, the England bowlers were totally clueless how to defend the 229 their batsmen put together.

When a list of possible World Cup winners for 2011 was drawn up back in early February, Australia, England and South Africa featured heavily along with India and Sri Lanka. There was no Pakistan and most decidedly no New Zealand. It was suggested the Kiwis along with the West Indies would be fortunate to make the quarterfinals. Well, Shahid Afridi and Daniel Vettori lead their sides have found themselves in the semi-final draw; they also know how that extra step is not going to be easy.