Ahmedabad: India have beaten Australia by 5 wickets and set themselves up for a clash with Pakistan in the World Cup semi-finals. India's win simultaneously sent defending champions Australia out of the World Cup. Yuvraj Singh was the architect of India's win with an unbeaten 57 runs. India has beaten Australia after 24 years in the World Cup and the win couldn't be any sweeter.
More to follow...
Yuvraj: I don't know whether this is a purple patch, but there was a lot of pressure that we were playing against Australia. I knew that Raina was there to come, we did well in the end. I told Gautam Gambhir that I'm not Virender Sehwag, I can't run that quickly, may be it was my mistake, apologies to him. I have been through tough times, I have continued to trust myself and stick to my plans. Looking at the wicket, I knew 250-260 was a tough score, Sachin and Gauti batted well and the partnership with Raina was key. Beating Australia, the three time World Champions, is really special.
MS Dhoni: 70 odd runs needed, I thought these are the two guys who have to take us to the end. I had hopes on Yuvraj, but I did feel the pressure and for the men in the middle, it was all about handling pressure. With Raina coming in, he was technically more sound compared to Yusuf and our choice was made thinking that we need to bat the 50 overs. We fielded the best today, Yuvi was electrifying. Everybody gave 100%, I think we saved at least a fifteen runs. Well, it doesn't get better. World Cup hosted by the sub continent nations, an India Pakistan semi finals, there will be more pressure for us, not from inside but from outside. The people will say, don't worry about the Cup, it does not matter, but win the semi finals for us.
Ricky Ponting: We competed hard, there is no doubt about that. We had a chance at halfway stage, we had to take a few more wickets but Yuvraj and Raina played well. With 15 overs left, we were in with a big chance, we had to get more wickets and get into their tail. We have had our moments, we are probably a better team than what we have showed. Full credit to India to the way they have played, good luck to them from here on.
Raina: I knew that whenever I got the chance that I would do well. I would like to thank Gary Kirsten for giving me the chance and I proved that I can do well. When I was in the sitting dressing room, Sachin came up to me and told me to maintain my calm. He told me to just go out there and do the job. Yuvraj told me to me to play my natural game. I hope to continue with the good work in this tournament. We have to maintain the hard work and we have to bring out our best against Pakistan in the semi-finals.
Gallery |Scorecard
Earlier, Captain Ricky Ponting marked his return to form with a scintillating century as Australia posted a competitive 260 for six in their cricket World Cup quarter final clash against India here today.
Opting to bat first, Ponting notched up his 30th ODI century and his 5th in the World Cup to not only silence his detractors but also guide Australia to a decent total on a rather slow and turning track at the Sardar Patel stadium.
The 36-year-old Ponting, who has been under intense pressure because of poor form in recent times, responded brilliantly as he anchored the innings to score his first ton in 18 innings.
Apart from Ponting 118-ball 104, Brad Haddin (53) and David Hussey (38 not out) were the other notable performers for the defending champions, leaving the hosts to score at an asking rate of 5.22 to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with arch rivals Pakistan.
For the Indians, Yuvraj Singh (2/44), Ramachandran Ashwin (2/52) and Zaheer Khan (2/53) were the wicket-takers.
It was Ponting who stole the thunder as he showed tremendous character and resilience to make a mark in such a crucial game. He held the innings together and was dismissed in the 49th over as the Aussies lost wickets at periodic intervals.
The Aussies, realising that the wicket was not conducive for strokeplay, curbed their stroke-making insticts to a large extent and were quite content in working for their runs on the slow and dry track.
Spinner Ramachandran Ashwin opened the bowling for India and produced a tidy first over by giving away just three runs while paceman Zaheer Khan gave one run in his first over.
Watson played the first aggressive shot of the innings by slog-sweeping Ashwin to the mid-wicket boundary and then cracked another boundary off Zaheer's next over.
Both the Aussie openers Watson and Haddin played cautiously in the intial stages before opening to play some big shots. Haddin lifted Ashwin for a six over wide long on to to try and break the shackles.
Harbhajan introduced into the attack in the 9th over in place of Ashwin, who was brought in from the other end for Zaheer Khan.
The move paid dividends immediately as Ashwin drew first blood by evicting the dangerous Watson (25) with a superb delivery.
Watson went for the slog sweep to a tossed up ball but missed the line completely to see his stumps being dislodged much to the delight of the Indians.
With runs coming slowly, the Aussies chose to attack Munaf Patel as his first over yielded 13 runs, Haddin picking him up for special treatment clobbering him for three boundaries.
Haddin and Ponting, who has not been among the runs in the ongoing World Cup, consolidated the position for the team as they took the score beyond the 100-mark without losing any more wickets.
Haddin, who looked quite comfortable in the middle, notched up his 15th ODI half century by slamming Munaf to the boundary.
But Haddin returned to the pavilion soon after with Yuvraj Singh providing the break through with Suresh Raina pulling off a brilliant diving catch. Haddin tried to go for the cover drive to a turning ball but failed to time it properly.
Desperate to get a wicket, Dhoni also turned to Sachin Tendulkar who bowled his leg spinners. The last time Tendulkar bowled in an ODI was in Guwahati in November 2009.
Yuvraj came to the rescue of his team again by getting rid of Michael Clarke (8), who paid the price for a poor shot as he top-edged his slog-sweep and Zaheer latched on to a well judged catch in the mid-wicket region.
Zaheer, who returned for his second spell in the 31st over, dismissed Michael Hussey with a gem of slow ball which knocked down the stumps to leave Australia in a spot of bother at 150 for four.
Cameron White, who was not too comfortable in the initial stage of his innings, survived a confident appeal for caught behind off Ashwin.
Umpire Marais Erasmus was unmoved even as the entire stadium went up in appeal for the catch. White went for the sweep and appeared to get it off the glove for Dhoni to take a catch behind the wicket. India went for the review, and it showed that the ball came off the forearm.
But White did not survive for long as he fell soon with Zaheer accounting for his dismissal, taking a smart return catch off a slower delivery.
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