What

The second semi-final of the 2011 ICC World Cup will be played between old rivals India and Pakistan. The match is a Day/Night affair.

When

March 30, 2011. The game begins at 2:30 pm, IST.

Where

Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh. The wicket at Mohali used to be one of the bounciest tracks in the country, but has behaved like a flat one in recent times. At the 2011 ICC World Cup itself, South Africa and West Indies have posted totals of 351 and 275 against Netherlands and Ireland respectively, highlighting the batsman-friendly nature of the track. Both those totals were posted while batting first and the team winning the toss is expected to do the same in the big semi-final.

The Teams

An India versus Pakistan game has traditionally been viewed as the clash between one side’s batting strength (India) and the other’s bowling skill (Pakistan). This time is no different.

In Sachin Tendulkar (379 runs), Virender Sehwag (342 runs) and Yuvraj Singh (341 runs) India have three of the top eight run-getters of the 2011 ICC World Cup. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, with four half-centuries and one century between them, are also in good touch. Suresh Raina came good with the bat (34* off 28) in a tense quarter-final run chase against Australia. India’s only concern in the batting department is MS Dhoni’s form, the captain having failed to post a single half-century in six innings.

Irrespective of how the track looks on the day, it appears unlikely that India will alter their bowling combination of two pacers and two spinners. However, given Munaf Patel’s disappointing bowling form (avg. 30.22, economy-rate 5.80), India may be forced to include Ashish Nehra in place of Patel in the playing eleven.

Where India have three batsmen with more than 300 runs to their credit, Pakistan have just one batsman (Umar Akmal) with more than 200 runs against his name in the tournament. However, Pakistan’s batting, while not of the same pedigree as the Indian line-up, is capable of doing the job. In Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq they have two experienced players who are capable of playing according to the situation while in Abdul Razzaq and Shahid Afridi they have two batsmen who can destroy any bowling attack. Also, with Shahid Afridi coming in at No. 8, Pakistan bat deep.

But Pakistan’s best weapon against the Indian challenge is their bowling. Afridi, with 21 wickets, is the tournament’s leading wicket-taker. Umar Gul, with 14 wickets at a strike-rate of 22.5, has proved to be equally effective. Mohammad Hafeez (economy-rate 3.53) and Abdul Razzaq (economy-rate 4.20) have also played their roles competently.

Key players

Yuvraj Singh has been India’s talisman right through the tournament, taking the team to victory on most occasions. His last innings of 57* against Australia in the quarter-final came when India suffered a temporary collapse and were a fair distance from the victory line. Yet, the all-rounder, who has over 300 runs and 10 wickets in this tournament, battled it out with remarkable poise to take India home.

Shahid Afridi has come good in this World Cup with his bowling like never before. With an economy-rate of 3.48 and a strike-rate of 18.4 in the tournament, Afridi looks a completely different bowler than his career economy-rate of 4.61 and strike-rate of 43.9 would suggest. If only he can put up another couple of incisive bowling performances for Pakistan, he might still change the way he will be remembered – as a mercurial batsman who could bowl a bit.

The History

Pakistan have never beaten India at the World Cup. On the four occasions that the two sides have squared off, India have emerged winners on all instances.

The first time these two teams met in the World Cup was in 1992 when India defended a modest total of 216 to beat Pakistan by 43 runs. Then in Bengaluru, four years on, Navjot Sidhu (93), Ajay Jadeja (45 off 25), Venkatesh Prasad (three for 45) and Anil Kumble (three for 48) put in brilliant individual performances to steer India to a memorable 39-run win.

Ahead of the1999 World Cup encounter, Wasim Akram famously remarked that he would use the India game as a ‘practice match’. Instead, India, for the third time in a row, successfully defended a score (227) and sent Pakistan scurrying for some much needed practice.

Finally, in 2003, Sachin Tendulkar produced one of the all-time great World Cup batting performances by scoring 98 off just 75 deliveries against Pakistan to lay the platform for India’s run chase. Rahul Dravid (44*) and Yuvraj Singh (50*) took over at the fall of Tendulkar’s wicket and steered India past Pakistan’s score of 273, without any further hiccups.

The X-factor

In four World Cup games against Pakistan, Sachin Tendulkar has scored 228 runs at an average of 76.00, a formidable record against a team which has historically fielded some of the best bowlers in the one-day game. Tendulkar, however, has not scored a century against Pakistan in World Cup competitions yet. A ton at Mohali would not only help Tendulkar achieve that distinction but it would also be a fitting way to bring up his much-awaited 100th international century.

Pakistan have reached the semi-finals by beating some of the big names in the tournament. They beat Sri Lanka (by 11 runs), Australia (by four wickets) and West Indies (by 10 wickets) to get this far. Yet, a 110-run thrashing at the hands of the less-fancied New Zealand side in the group stage of the competition proved that inconsistency has been Pakistan’s biggest enemy in recent times. Playing in India after a gap of nearly four years, the Mohali challenge will test the Pakistan side known to implode from time to time. Having said that, India captain MS Dhoni believes the pressure will be felt more by the home side playing under the eager eye of thousands of hopeful supporters.

The squads

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, R Ashwin, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, S Sreesanth and Ashish Nehra.

Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (c), Kamran Akmal (wk), Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Ahmed Shehzad, Junaid Khan and Shoaib Akhtar.