By IANS
Durban : It will be a dream India-Pakistan final in the Twenty20 World Championship of cricket in Johannesburg on Monday.
In the semi-finals Saturday night, India stunned World Cup winners Australia by 15 runs at a boisterous Kingsmead ground here while Pakistan defeated New Zealand by six wickets in the first semi-final earlier in the day in Durban.
The all-Asian final will be a big solace for India and Pakistan after their abysmal failure at the One-day International World Cup in the West Indies in March, when both teams crashed out in the first round. The result had led to prolonged criticism in both countries.
It will be the first India-Pakistan final of a major cricket tournament after 1985, when Sunil Gavaskar’s India had defeated Pakistan to win the World Championship of Cricket in Melbourne.
On Saturday, before a jam packed stadium, India recovered from a poor start to put up 188 for five wickets in 20 overs, thanks largely to Yuvraj Singh’s swashbuckling 70 off 30 balls (5x4s, 5x6s), after captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had won the toss.
Dhoni himself hammered an 18-ball 36 (4x4s, 1×6) and Robin Uthappa scored 34 off 28 balls (1×4, 3x6s). Uthappa and Yuvraj were also associated in the biggest partnership of the match – 84 for the third wicket, which saved India from embarrassment.
The Indian bowlers then rose to the challenge for the second successive match and restricted Australia to 173 for seven in 20 overs.
The four pacers – Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, Irfan Pathan and Joginder Sharma, who bowled an excellent last over – and the lone spinner Harbhajan Singh did not have a big total to back them, but they bowled within themselves to defend it bravely.
Yuvraj, who missed the previous match against South Africa due to an elbow injury, followed his 16-ball 58 against England with another breathtaking knock – plus a crucial catch of Mike Hussey — to win the Man of the Match award.
For the Adam Gilchrist-led Australia, pacer Michael Johnson took two wickets.
It is worth to remember that India are without their three senior most players — Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly – who had opted out from this shortest version of the game.
Dhoni marshalled his resources well, changing bowlers and field placings intelligently.
Apart from the individual brilliance of Yuvraj and others, the highlight of India’s win was the temperament both Dhoni and his young team exhibited when Australia, without an injured Ricky Ponting, chased the total.
It was best illustrated in the last three overs when any of the two teams could have wrested the initiative with a good over with bat or ball.
With Australia needing 30 runs off 18 balls, it was a touch-and-go case. Off-spinner Harbhajan, brought on for the 18th over, yorked and castled Michael Clarke off his very first ball and sent the crowd delirious with joy. With his teasingly accurate bowling, he conceded just three runs in that over.
Dhoni then brought on in-form pacer R.P. Singh for the 18th and penultimate over, with Australia needing 27 from 12 balls. Although the left-armer from Uttar Pradesh did not take any wickets, he bowled accurately and conceded just five.
Inexperienced pacer Joginder bowled the crucial last over, with Australia desperately requiring 22 from Brad Haddin and Hussey, who were at the crease.
After failing to score off the first two balls, Hussey threw his bat blindly at the third delivery but ended up giving Yuvraj a catch at wide long-on. Joginder had struck a crucial blow, taking India closer to victory.
Now 22 were needed off the last three balls. New batsman Brett Lee took two runs off the fourth ball, but Joginder bowled an excellent yorker next to shatter the stumps.
With 20 required off the last ball, Michael Johnson hit a boundary – and sent the Indians in rapturous celebrations, both on the field and off it.
Earlier, Gautam Gambhir (24) and Virender Sehwag (9) failed to get going and India were reduced to 41 for two in the eighth over.
Then, Yuvraj and Uthappa joined forces to raise 84 at a rate of 12.92 runs per over for the third wicket to keep India in the match.
Later, Dhoni added 30 quick runs for the fourth wicket with Yuvraj and 29 with Rohit Sharma (8 not out) for the fifth wicket to give the fans something to cheer about at Kingsmead.
SCOREBOARD
Second semi-final, India vs. Australia, Twenty20 World Championship, at Kingsmead, Durban
India:
Gautam Gambhir c Hodge b Johnson 24
Virender Sehwag c Gilchrist b Johnson 9
Robin Uthappa run out (Symonds) 34
Yuvraj Singh c Hussey b Clarke 70
Mahendra Singh Dhoni run out (Gilchrist) 36
Rohit Sharma not out 8
Irfan Pathan not out 0 1
Extras: (leg byes 6, wide 1) 7
Total: (for five wickets in 20 overs) 188
Fall of wickets: 1-30 (Sehwag, 5.2 overs), 2-41 (Gambhir, 7.6), 3-125 (Uthappa, 14.3), 4-155 (Yuvraj, 17.3), 5-184 (Dhoni, 19.5)
Bowling:
Brett Lee 4 0 25 0
Nathan Bracken 4 0 38 0
Stuart Clark 4 0 38 0 (1w)
Michael Johnson 4 0 31 2
Andrew Symonds 3 0 37 0
Michael Clarke 1 0 13 1
Australia:
Adam Gilchrist b Sreesanth 22
Matthew Hayden b Sreesanth 62
Brad Hodge c Joginder b Pathan 11
Andrew Symonds b Pathan 43
Mike Hussey c Yuvraj b Joginder 13
Michael Clarke b Harbhajan 3
Brad Haddin not out 5
Brett Lee b Joginder 2
Michael Johnson not out 4
Extras: (lb 3, w 3, nb 2) 8
Total: (for seven wickets in 20 overs) 173
Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Gilchrist, 5.1 overs), 2-68 (Hodge, 8.4), 3-134 (Hayden, 14.4), 4-156 (Symonds, 16.4), 5-159 (Clarke, 17.1), 6-167 (Hussey, 19.3), 7-169 (Lee, 19.5)
Bowling:
Rudra Pratap Singh 4 0 33 0 (1nb, 1w)
Sreesanth 4 1 12 2
Irfan Pathan 4 0 44 2 (1w)
Joginder Sharma 3 0 37 2 (1w)
Harbhajan Singh 4 0 24 1
Virender Sehwag 1 0 20 0
Result: India won by 15 runs, enter final
Man of the Match: Yuvraj Singh
Toss: India
Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and Mark Benson (England)
TV umpire: Billy Doctrove (West Indies)
Match referee: Chris Broad (England)