Gambhir stands tall, India enter final

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The pride and passion missing in the field was back with the bat as India built on a well-planned chase to seal a spot in the Asia Cup final. Chasing a challenging 268, India reached the mark off the penultimate ball and will meet Sri Lanka in Thursday’s final.

With three runs required off two deliveries, Harbhajan Singh swung Mohammed Aamer over mid-wicket for a huge six to spark wild celebrations in the Indian dressing room.
Opting for the batting power play after the 44th over with 50 still required, India found their saviours in Suresh Raina and Harbhajan. The duo did full justice to Gautam Gambhir’s dutiful 83 off 97 balls (6x4, 1x6) and M.S. Dhoni’s 71-ball 56. Two well timed sixes, one each by Raina and Harbhajan off Shoaib Akhtar towards the end made the task easy.
The chase did not gather steam against the new ball. Virender Sehwag found the going extremely difficult, taking 12 deliveries to open his account. Gambhir was fortuitous to collect three boundaries behind the wicket. Sehwag affected badly by cramps, batted on with the help of a runner in Raina but was unable to survive a perfectly pitched leg cutter from Abdul Razzaq.
The stand between Virat Kohli and Gambhir yielded 35 before Saeed Ajmal foxed Kohli with a straighter one. Dhoni sauntered in at four and looked determined from the start. Dabbling quick singles and smart braces, the skipper rebuilt the chase with Gambhir. Fortune favoured India when Mohammed Aamer when he grassed a sitter when Gambhir went inside out over covers off Shoaib Malik.
Earlier the toss benefited Pakistan immensely. Though both sides were reluctant to be the aggressor, openers Salman Butt and Imran Farhat began cautiously. Praveen Kumar justified Dhoni’s strong off-side field. Ashish Nehra let the pressure slip by digging it short for the batsmen to go across the line. His length made the field redundant.
There was nothing spectacular but the methods of Butt were effective as the first 15 overs ushered in 67 runs.