India bat against Pakistan, Nehra replaces Ashwin

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Sachin Tendulkar, left, plays a shot off the bowling of Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal during the WC semi-final match

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan in the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

India made one change from the side that beat champions Australia by five wickets in the quarterfinals, with left-arm quick Ashish Nehra replacing off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as the hosts opted for a three-man pace attack.

Pakistan, who thrashed the West Indies by 10 wickets in their last eight clash, were unchanged and that meant there was no recall for erratic fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.

India batting great Sachin Tendulkar came into this match needing just one more century to become the first man to score a hundred international hundreds.

The 37-year-old has 51 Test centuries and 48 one-day international tons to his credit.

India have won all four previous World Cup matches between the arch-rivals.

The winners of this encounter will face Sri Lanka, who beat New Zealand by five wickets in Colombo on Tuesday, in Saturday's final in Mumbai.

Teams:
India: Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wkt), Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel.

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal (wkt), Asad Shafiq, Younus Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi (capt), Abdul Razzaq, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal.

Ahead of the crucial World Cup semi-final, the skies cleared up in the morning after a thunderstorm followed by light rain in Mohali and Chandigarh.

Met officials said the skies would remain clear for most of the day. They added, however, that there was possibility of light showers towards the evening.

The high-voltage semi-final clash between India and Pakistan starts at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium here at 2.30 p.m. It will be a day-night encounter.

Several high-profile people, including the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers, Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani, and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her family (Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Robert Vadra) will watch the match amid unprecedented security cover.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, union ministers, chief ministers governors of states, industrialist Mukesh Ambani and Bollywood celebrities like Aamir Khan and Deepika Padukone are expected to see the match.

Light rain had lashed Chandigarh, 10 km from here, and Mohali late Tuesday evening. The showers were accompanied by thunder and strong winds leading to fears that the match, that has generated unprecedented excitement in the subcontinent, could be a washout.

"Partly cloudy sky will prevail over in the Mohali region on Wednesday. Thunderstorms and dust-storms along with light rain, by the evening, could also prevail in various parts of this region," a Met official had told media.