India hand 29 run

defeat to Pakistan,

set up final against Sri Lanka

India beat Pakistan by 29 runs in the second World Cup semi-final in Mohali on Wednesday.

India posted 260-9 and then returned to bowl out Pakistan for 231

in 49.5 overs.

Sachin Tendulkar was the highest scorer for India with 85 runs, Wahab Riaz took six wickets for 46 runs for Pakistan.

India will now me

et Sri Lanka for the final in Mumbai on April 2.

30^th March 2011, a day every Pakistani and Indian will remember for their entire lifetime. It's a date that's been carved in every cricket lovers mind, heart and soul. When it comes to the two cricket crazy nations India and Pakistan, it's usually way more than just cricket. As India entered the semi-finals against Pakistan, the hype and lead up had already begun. Many offices generously gave their employees a holiday, employees who didn't have a holiday; mass bunked, colleges finished lectures early,

TV showrooms and cafes were full right since the afternoon, movie theatres screening the LIVE match started receiving high footfalls since

morning, twitter was at it's best with the cons

tant updates and statements mentioning the semi-final, photoshop was probably used the most yesterday with more and more innovative pictures being shared on most social networking websites, every radio channel ran promotions for the much awaited game and the list go

es on.

They return as heroes

It was a match that will live long in my memory.

Pakistan slipped out of the World Cup after a nerve-wracking loss toarchrivals India.They now return home as heroes nonetheless.

The defeat is not under debate: we lost fair and square. However, the team that returns home is now a special one. They are special because they wore green and marched into the yard in Mohali, with their heads high, sending shock waves of intimidation to their opponents.

Shahid Afrid

i’s leadership and the team’s performance in the 2011 World Cup was awe-inspiring. They continued to defy all odds, defeating the unlikeliest of opponents and losing when defeat seemed implausible. They lived up to their tag of being the most unpredictable team in the world. It makes them one of the most entertaining sides to watch in the game of cricket. No one can deny that fact.

It is importan

t to go back in time and look at the haywire journey our cricket team has gone through. The odds were against us all the way, but we still managed to shock many and get into the semi-finals.

Think of the turmoi

l the Pakistan team has been through. The 2007 World Cup was marked with the sudden death of our coach Bob Woolmer. This upset was followed by a year which saw no Tests in 2008. This was then followed by the Sydney debacle. And we were rocked by one of the most damaging scandals in cricket history when three of our players were banned on grounds of involvement in spot-fixing.

Indiaprevails against Pakistan in semi-final thriller

“There was diplomacy. There was political posturing. There were references to war. We got all the hype. Eventually we got a very good cricket match”, said Harsha Bhogle about the India Vs Pakistan semi-final clash.

These all thin

gs were expected but never before had we seen such madness for even an India-Pakistan match. That we needed to defeat Pakistan; that it was no less than a war; that this was the moment we have been waiting for almost three decades….People glued to TV screens, radio sets, live streaming and Twitter and Facebook all across the Indian subcontinent and even across the borders…it was frenzy.

Whatever happens in the finals, India must win this match is how the hardcore passionate fans wanted it to be. Finally it did turn out to be a typical Indian victory in Mohali on Wednesday night. Dropping Sachin four times is unacceptable: ImranKhanFormer captain Imran Khan feelsPakistan did not deserve to win the World Cupsemifinal against India the way they fielded, especially dropping batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar four times during their 29-run loss in Mohali Wednesday. Tendulkar went on to make 85. Imran said it was

unacceptable to drop a player of Tendulkar's caliber so many times. "No team deserves to win if one fields the way Pakistan did," said Imran, who was the captain of Pakistan's 1992 World Cup winning squad. "You cannot dr

op a player like Sachin four times. And don't forget the ground fielding. This was the ultimate pressure game. "Goodbye Pak, hello Mumbai," trumpeted the Pioneer, hailing the "good cricket and even better camaraderie" of the game. Meanwhile the Pakistani media blamed butter-fingered fielding - Sachin Tendulkar was dropped four times - and poor shot selection for the team's defeat. "Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan's would-be champion, cast a tragic figure as his team's World Cup campaign ended in a suffocating defeat at the hands of India," leading English newspaper Dawn said. Urdu language newspaper Jang was also critical of the team's performance and criticised the players' "dismal show". However it wasn't all doom and gloom. Especially after a year when Pakistan have made off-field headlines their own.

The News said that "the overall performance of the team was much better than expected and (captain) Shahid Afridi rallied his troops brilliantly to take the team to the semi-finals." "Our boys could not make it in the end but they fought like brave men and lost to a better side, which had the added advantage of playing at home before their cheering crowds," said the paper. India's newspa

pers also paid tribute to Pakistan's performance. The Hindustan Times declared: "Pakistan will return home defeated but not bowed" after the team, hit by match-fixing charges and a poor run record, was given little chance of reaching the latter stages of the tournament. "The way they played and competed on Wednesday, they certainly leave with their heads held high," the paper added.