By IANS
Durban : India Saturday surprised Australia by 15 runs in the second semi-final of the Twenty20 World Championship of cricket to set up a dream final with Pakistan Monday.
India scored 188 for five wickets in 20 overs and then restricted Australia to 173 for seven in 20 overs in the second semi-final at Kingsmead ground.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan defeated New Zealand by six wickets in the first semi-final in Durban to book their berth in the final, which will be played in Johannesburg.
In-form Yuvraj Singh, who was later adjudged the Man of the Match, slammed 70 off 30 balls to guide India to a competitive-looking total after captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss.
Besides Yuvraj’s blitzkrieg (5x4s, 5x6s), Dhoni smashed 36 off 18 balls (4x4s, 1×6) and Robin Uthappa scored 34 off 28 balls (1x4s, 3x6s) to lift India from a worrying 41 for two in seven overs.
Pacer Michael Johnson took two wickets.
When Australia batted, the pace trio Sreesanth, Joginder Sharma and Irfan Pathan bowled particularly well to capture two wickets apiece.
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
Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and Mark Benson (England)
TV umpire: Billy Doctrove (West Indies)
Match referee: Chris Broad (England)