vs India - World Cup Final
The Teams
1) T.Umar
2) U.Tariq
3) Y.Khan
4) I.Ul-Haq
5) S.Yousuf
6) S.Afridi
7) M.Yousuf
8) Y.Arafat
9) R.Naved-ul-hasan
10) D.Kaneria
11) M.Asif
No change in the team for a third time. This team got them here, can it win it now for them?
1) V.Sehwag
2) Y.Singh
3) S.Tendulkar
4) V.Laxman
5) G.Gambhir
6) M.Dhoni
7) J.Sharma
8) H.Singh
9) A.Kumble
10) M.Patel
11) G.Singh
Same team as what beat Pakistan last time this teams met in the Super Eights.
The Result
India 223/9
Tendulkar 55
Dhoni 44
Naved-ul-hasan 4-55
Asif 2-22
Pakistan 224/3
Inzi 96*
Khan 66
G Singh 1-38
Sharma 1-59
Pakistan win by 7 wickets
MotM: Naved-ul-hasan
Interruptions: None
Reaction
India were the only team to beat Pakistan in the Super Eights, whilst they won all their matches. Pakistan only lost one match, and that was by 2 wickets to India. This should be a blockbuster. India win the toss and elect to bat first. Asif bowls a maiden to get this match to a good start for... Perfect start for Pakistan! 2/1 with Yuvraj Singh failing to score more than one run off two balls. Naved Ul Hasan with an important wicket in his first over, although that wicket unleashes Tendulkar. Sehwag smashed Naved for two consecutive boundaries before he is dropped by Inzi! He was only on 11* so this could cost Pakistan dearly.
Fortunately for Pakistan, he goes a while after. 25 was the amount of runs he accumulated off his 26 deliveries to put India on 31/2. Tendulkar is batting slowly and will hope to stay in with Laxman. An appeal for a catch behind on Tendulkar was turned down as Naved searched for his third wicket. A fifth over, his last of the spell, by Asif saw him pick up his first wicket. There was a no ball earlier on in the over and that meant he had to bowl seven deliveries. Apart from the no ball it was a wicket maiden as he bowled Laxman for 1 run with his last ball. 1-8 off 5 overs for Asif! Mesmerising stuff.
Naved then got tanked by Tendulkar for 3 boundaries in his last over as he reached 2-38 off 5 overs! He got two wickets but was incredibly expensive. Arafat and Afridi replaced the seam bowlers. Few chances were coming, as Tendulkar neared his half century, until Guatam Gambhir got a thick edge to an Arafat delivery and was caught by Umar. 10 runs was all he could make with Tendulkar stationed on 49* off 51 deliveries.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was now into the attack and wouldn't be holding back. A sensational maiden from Afridi meant that Tendulkar was still on 49*! Arafat came in to bowl his last over of his current spell, going for 7 runs with Tendulkar bringing up his half century in the process. 50 off 58 balls is not too shabby at all. Afridi then came in to bowl his last over, only going for two singles. 0-21 were Afridi's figures, which were quite a bit better than 1-35 of Arafat.
Kaneria was brought into the attack alongside Naved, who got his third wicket! Tendulkar was the man to go after edging a straight delivery to Younis Khan, who gracefully took the catch. 55 off 72 balls was a good effort from Tendulkar, despite India now on 109/5! Joginder Sharma was now in and he didn't get out last time we played India. Asif was brought back into the attack just past the 25 over mark, for Naved, and in his first over his line and length was astonishing. Only one run off it and an lbw appeal, which looked plum, but was turned down.
No-one was looking like they were going to get a wicket until Naved was brought back into the attack and got two chances. Sharma had to face an appeal for a catch behind and an lbw appeal, but luckily for him, neither amounted to anything. Dhoni however was on 40* off 54 balls and had not played and missed any of given any chances. Wicket! Dhoni was the man to go, which Pakistan wanted so badly, with Naved picking up his fourth wicket in the final. 44 runs off 60 deliveries was a brilliant score but it leaves India on 174/6 and needing some more runs to get past 200.
Asif was brought into the attack in the 44th over and got the next wicket. Joginder Sharma would not survive the match like last time and was bowled by Asif for 38 runs. This meant the tail would now need to put on as many runs as they could for India. 195/7. 213/8. Harbhajan Singh had done exactly what India wanted and scored a quick 17 off 25 balls. He batted well before getting clean bowled by Afridi. A very strange last over By Asif, ended up being 8 balls. Two lbw appeals, Dropped catch and a run out, let alone three runs, all happened in the last over which marked an excellent attempt by Asif. 223/9 was the score for India.
0/1. Taufeeq Umar gave us a terrible start as he got a three ball duck. Tariq didn't last too long as he gave away his wicket with a thick edge through to Dhoni to be removed for 17 off 19 balls. We needed a big score from someone. With the run rate starting to get over 5, Inzi started to smash some boundaries. 87/2 off 22 overs was quite slow. Munaf Patel came into the attack, conceding 14 runs off his first over, seeing us to 111/2 at the 25 over mark. 113 runs at 4.5 an over. It's tight.
Inzi then brought up his first OD half century of the World Cup! Despite not scoring a 50 this World Cup, he still average 50.60. 13 runs off Patel's second over saw him bowl quite laughable. 27 runs off his first 2 overs, not the best start for Patel. Khan then brought up his slow 50, his fourth of the World Cup. He has only scored one century, can he make it a second? An awesome partnership was definitely developing with Inzi scoring 70* off 71 balls and being the aggressive batsman, whilst Khan was on 64* off 101 balls and being the supporter. They were working together well.
A wicket! Younis Khan was run out thanks to some lazy running by Inzi. Just when you thought India couldn't come back into the match, they find a way. 66 runs off 109 balls was a great innings by Khan although it was the captain's fault he is out. Shahid Afridi was surprisingly brought up the batting order ahead of both Yousufs. Strange decision by the Captain but it could end up well as Afridi loves seam and thats what he will get. Still, it is a little sad to see the end of a 132 run partnership.
It seemed to be a good idea by the Captain to bring Afridi in as he quickly raced to 17* off 18 balls. The 39th over, with Pakistan on 196/3, saw Harbhajan Singh back into the attack, which could be trouble for Afridi. A boundary off the Singh's first ball from Afridi seemed to rest some doubt, but Afridi is not the best player of spin. Afridi faced every single ball of the over, scoring 9 runs off it. He was batting very well considering he had just come in.
Inzi was now into the 90s. He was on 90* off 87 balls but Pakistan only needed 10 runs to win. He might fall just short! Pakistan need one run to win... Pakistan have won! With 46 balls to spare, 7.4 overs, Pakistan have won the World Cup. Inzamam Ul-Haq was tremendous in this final and got 96* off 91 balls whilst Afridi finished on 40* off 37 balls. It was a remarkable batting performance, which would of no doubt saw Pakistan reach 300, although it did follow a good bowling performance.
A fantastic World Cup for Pakistan who have beaten their rivals, India, in the Final. India may of won the battle in the Super Eights, but Pakistan have won the war! Pakistan last won it against England in 1992 but have won it for a second time. They have now won it more times than rivals India, who have only won it once. Naved Ul Hasan was man of the match, but Inzi deserved it just as much for his remarkable 96*. What a match. What a World Cup.
Pakistan win the World Cup! 
. Look at the teams you lost though; Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and India. They're top teams that'll give you a tough challenge any day of the week and losing to them isn't embarrassing. Other than New Zealand, they're all better than you and even the Kiwis are about on par with you.
