Victory of India

Ind vs Aus: Yuvraj, Sachin, Raina
help Men in Blue avenge 2003
humiliation.
It
was billed as the
blockbuster and
the quarterfinal,
the second of the
2011 Cricket
World Cup at the
Sardar Patel
Stadium at Motera
on Thursday lived
up to the
expectations.
Blog: Can we beat
Pak and some
other questions
India survived a
Ricky Ponting
masterclass (104,
118 balls, 7x4, 1
x6) and some tense moments to
beat four-time World Champions
Australia by five wickets and 14
balls to spare to set up a
potentially explosive clash with
arch rivals Pakistan in Mohali on
March 30.
The hosts rose to the occasion in
style, first with a superb bowling
and fielding effort, then the great
master Sachin Tendulkar set the
stage alight with glorious
strokeplay to put the side on
cruise mode before some
quintessential Indian harakiri.
The Aussies sensing a chance
changed colours, bowled with
venom, sledged hard and even
bled - Brett Lee getting a cut
under his eye while fielding. They
did it all but couldn't stop India
from progressing.
There were many heroes for
India as they set about their
chase of 261, but Yuvraj Singh,
yet again, emerged as the knight
in shining armour coming up
with a match-winning knock of
unbeaten 57 runs besides
picking up two wickets earlier.
The effort earned the southpaw
his fourth Man-of-the-match
award in this World Cup.
Also rising to the challenge was
young Suresh Raina with a gutsy
unbeaten 34. Yuvraj and Raina
realized 74 runs from 61 balls
just when the Aussies had
turned on the screws.
There was some intense drama
before though courtesy a
horrible mix-up between Gautam
Gambhir (50; 64b, 7x4) and
Yuvraj (their third in the span of
five minutes) resulting in the run
out of Gambhir. Yuvraj edged
David Hussey to Cameron White
at slip and even before Yuvraj
could realize, Gambhir had
dashed towards him from the
non-striker's end and it was a
point of no return.
Five overs earlier, Virat Kohli
swatted a full toss straight down
the throat of Michael Clarke at
mid-wicket.
Skipper MS Dhoni cracked a
thundering boundary, but
another attempt off Lee saw
Dhoni cut the bowler straight to
Michael Clarke at point. The
Indians had slid to 187 for 5 in
37.3 overs and seemed to be
spoiling their own party till
Yuvraj and Raina came into their
own.
Of course, Tendulkar (53; 68b,
7x4) was on a different planet
altogether as he caressed,
punched, pulled, drove and also
played the upper cut, the way
only he can to raise hopes of the
ton of ton