Living dangerously, Tendulkar hit 85 to guide India to 260-9 before Pakistan made a mess of the run-chase to end their otherwise bright World Cup campaign on a disappointing note.
Tendulkar -- looking for his 100 international ton -- was dropped by Misbah-ul-Haq at 27, Younis Khan at 45, Kamran Akmal at 70 and Umar Akmal at 81 as Pakistan failed to rise to the occasion and crashed to a fifth World Cup loss against their arch-rivals.
Wahab Riaz picked up five wickets but all his hard work went down the drain as the Pakistanis crumbled under pressure, chasing 261 – a gettable target considering the fact that the wicket held no demons while the outfield was lightning fast.
Pakistan fell terribly short on various fronts. Umar Gul, their star pacer, had a poor day and was milked for 69 runs from 8 overs.
The openers squandered good starts while the senior were unable to click when it mattered the most. Younis Khan flopped again while Misbah was unable to really lift the innings even though he top scored with 56 off 76 balls. It was a sad sight as the Pakistan vice-captain attempted to achieve the miracle which Pakistan desperately needed at the end of the innings but fell agonizingly short. The Greenshirts were bowled out for 231 in 49.5 overs.
Shahid Afridi went wicketless for the first time in the tournament and then failed to capitalise on a good start with the bat. Abdul Razzaq flopped with both the bat and ball.
Pakistan have no one else but themselves to blame. They were off to a fine start before their openers fell, playing poor shots.
Kamran Akmal (19 off 21 balls) began Pakistan’s innings with a superb drive for four off Zaheer Khan’s first ball. But he fell trying to drive a slower one only to hit it straight to Yuvraj Singh at point.
Hafeez, who hit an unbeaten fifty in the ten-wicket triumph over West Indies in the quarterfinal, raced to 43 almost effortlessly, hitting seven delightful boundaries in the process. But in a moment of madness, he tried to paddle sweep a Munaf Patel delivery that was outside the off stump only managing to edge it to Dhoni.
Asad Shafiq (30) was the next to go trying to cut Yuvraj before Younis Khan failed again as he attempted to drive the left-armer only to spoon it to Raina at cover. Pakistan were 106-4 in the 26 over desperately needing a rescue act.
Umar Akmal briefly promised to provide that with a breezy 24-ball 29 that included two sixers. He threw away his wicket, playing an awful shot as an arm ball from Harbhajan Singh shattered his stumps.
Afridi decided to promote Abdul Razzaq up the order but the move didn’t click with the allrounder returning to the dressing room beaten by a slow leg-cutter from Munaf Patel.
The Pakistan captain joined his deputy as his team hoped for a miracle. The Afridi-Misbah partnership added 34 off 33 to the total but just when things were beginning to get better for the Greenshirts, Afridi went for a big one off Harbhajan only to be pouched by Virender Sehwag.
Pakistan were unable to get any worthwhile partnerships with the opening stand of 44 being the best of their innings. All five Indian bowlers took two wickets apiece.
Earlier, when Sehwag and Tendulkar smashed Gul all over the park to take India to 47-0 in the first five overs, it seemed as if the home team, which won a crucial toss, was set to post a big total on what seemed like a flat wicket. Struggling for his rhythm, Gul was milked for 41 runs from his opening spell of four overs that included nine boundaries.
Sehwag was elegant to watch as he pulled, cut and drove with an enviable ease. But the introduction of Wahab brought the fall of the hard-hitting opener with one that skidded and caught him plumb in front of the wicket. Sehwag asked for a review but it confirmed that umpire Simon Taufel was spot on. Sehwag hit nine fours in his entertaining 25-ball cameo.
Gautam Gambhir then added 68 off 68 balls with Tendulkar as the duo kept the scoreboard ticking even as Pakistan started to apply some pressure with Wahab, Hafeez and Ajmal bowling superbly.
It was Hafeez who got Pakistan the much-needed breakthrough, beating Gambhir in flight and Kamran did the rest. Gambhir hit two boundaries in his 32-ball 27.
Tendulkar then took India to 141-2 in 25 overs before Wahab got rid of Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh off successive deliveries. It was an angling delivery that undid Kohli, who was caught at backward point by Umar Akmal. The very next one was a swinging one that crashed into the stumps at full throttle.
Tendulkar and Dhoni then put on 46 off 69 balls before Pakistan finally decided to get rid of the former. It was Afridi who took the catch at short extra cover off Ajmal. Tendulkar batted for 161 minutes, faced 115 balls and hit 11 boundaries. Dhoni fell 18 runs later to Wahab and even a referral failed to save the Indian captain.
Suresh Raina played a vital knock of 36 (not out) to make it sure that India reach a fighting total. He faced 39 balls and hit three boundaries. Harbhajan (12) fell to Ajmal while Wahab scalped Zaheer Khan (9) before running out Nehra (1) as India ended their 50 overs at 260-9. Wahab finished with 5-46 while Ajmal bagged 2-44.
Earlier, Pakistan decided against making any changes to the line-up that helped them crush West Indies by four wickets in last week’s quarterfinal in Dhaka. The temptation to bring in Shoaib Akhtar was there but in the end they opted to retain Wahab. India surprisingly left out in-form spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to bring back Ashish Nehra in their playing eleven.
