Even the most patriotic will agree that India's batting performance was good only in parts, not as a whole. Yet the Men In Blue bowled and fielded like a team possessed. And no one will disagree that the better team had won, as much as had the game of cricket itself.

If one were to choose a defining moment from all the engrossing action during the day, to this writer, it was Virender Sehwag's brief but all-too-powerful tenure at the crease. In no time at all did Sehwag scatter the high tension hanging over the match. Much more than that, he completely shattered the Pakistani confidence.

Try had as Shahid Afridi's men did, they could not fully recover from that early mauling that remained as a fresh wound to hurt them throughout, as much, as did the humiliation of seeing their main strike-bowler Umar Gul being plundered for 21 runs in only his second over.

The wonder called Sehwag knows no pressure, no tension and no stops. The strategy around the cricketing world is "Get this man early, otherwise, you have had it." On Wednesday, Pakistan did something like that yet not quite, because the psychological damage had already been done. It was a subdued Pakistan outfit that carried on thereafter.

If it is Sehwag's job to take the attack apart, it is Sachin Tendulkar's to keep the batting together. In the semifinal, it spoke volumes for his tenacity. Being blessed with good fortune, the braveheart held on for dear life to concentrate on giving his team a decent total. Just imagine where India would have finished, had it not been for his fighting knock of 85, perhaps, out of the World Cup

Did we hear a man called Dean Jones grudge Tendulkar the Man-of-the-Match award?

For the Indian supporters, however, there was a moment of anxiety even before the match started.

Skipper Dhoni almost dropped the World Cup when he dropped Ravichandra Ashwin from the playing eleven. The omission of the in-form off-spinner shocked many, including most experts.

One just failed to understand the logic behind this strange decision. The Tamil Nadu bowler had quite clearly shown that he was a better offie than Harbhajan, besides being a brilliant fielding and a fair bat.

The captain was questioned even earlier for not including Ashwin and had to accommodate him. The young bowler had not disappointed. On Wednesday Ashwin would have bolstered the attack further on a surface that was slow and gripping. After the match, Dhoni admitted that he had misread the pitch.

Going by the opinions of some former players, if a team as formidable as India have stuttered occasionally, it is because, they have just not been able to get their team combination right." Will we get it just right in the final?