On This Day: March 30, 2011 - India beats Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup semi-final at Mohali

[Varun]

Wow, April 2 is going to be the 10th anniversary of our World Cup win.

Time flies.

 

[Hasan123]

Can remember skipping school to watch the match. The hype was unreal. Can remember being so nervous for the game, watched with some family members as well.

 

[Cryin Out Loud]

It’s name was Mali. The owner of the patriot claimed that it is psychic and he made it predict the World Cup winner just the octopus predicted the winner of the 2010 football World Cup.

The parrot picked Pakistan as the winner thrice, and apparently it got killed by an Indian fan few days later.

It couldn't even predict its own demise, that should have told the punters something....

 

[guldozer]

Bad memories.

How many dropped catches in total? 6?

This hurt. A lot.

Knocking out India on their home turf, that would've been sweet.

 

[NishanKonar]

I was working in Infosys ( Chennai ) at that time. They put up a giant screen within the campus in an Open air theatre & thousands of Infosys workers skipped work to watch this game

 

[TeamPak95]

I would give away the CT17 win for this one here. This really hurt at the time and couldn't get over it for a month. In hindsight, I was glad I went to school that day since Pak lost. I found out they lost when this blonde kid in my class just randomly started going "INDIAAAA INDIAAAA.. yo guys India won!".

 

[Slog]

And I thought I knew everything about this world cup.

Lol I remember this too. Apparently the parrot was killed when it predicted Pakistan to be the winner

 

[Slog]

People always blame the fielding and the dropped catches but the fact is that despite those the total on the board wasnt massive by any means. Tendulkar didn’t take the game away from us despite 5 chances. If anything, Raina and Sehwag were the major contributors for India.

The real culprit was the batting again. We were 100 off for 5 or 6 so even if the target was 220; it would have become a a bit of a tall order at that point.

Agree with [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] regarding Shoaib Malik. He was in unreal form in domestics. Razzaq was pretty much a passenger contributing not much in either discipline.

Also. People rightly lambast Misbah but Younis Khan was an equal culprit scoring something like 10 off 30 odd balls. These two wasted so many balls in the middle it’s unbelievable.

Hafeez was batting like a dream and then played a cheeky shot which would be considered reckless even today let alone 10 years ago.

Finally. Going into the WC; Pakistan was most certainly not the favorites. We were reeling off banned players due to the spot fixing scandal. I remember about 7-8 months before the World Cup, Afridi had said it’s my dream to lead Pakistan to WC glory and the reaction among my friends was ‘what is he smoking.’

 

[Slog]

Also I’ve not seen a choke as bad as Umar Gul choked that day

 

[Saj]

261 to win - another flop by our batsmen.

But there again we had Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan in the line-up.

As I wrote in another thread, our selection policies in World Cup tournaments have been very questionable.

 

[WengerOut]

Also I’ve not seen a choke as bad as Umar Gul choked that day

For India, Zaheer Khan in the 2003 final. Also Bumrah in 2017 CT final.

 

[salahuddin10]

For India, Zaheer Khan in the 2003 final. Also Bumrah in 2017 CT final.

Zaheer had only played 2 years of international cricket and Bumrah had debuted in 2016.Umar gul had 8 years of experience by 2011

 

[salahuddin10]

Havent seen any game as hyped as this.I still remember all roads were empty and almost everyone that i knew watched it with relatives.And many fans bought the kit with afridi 10.Both PMs were there but unfortunately due to Misbah and Younis selfishness we lost the game.And unfortunately both of them are coaching our team

 

[shariqnoor]

Unpopular opinion but I don't really blame Misbah for the defeat. For me the reason for the defeat was that players like Umar Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq did not have the match awareness to understand what was required.

End of Over 28:
Pakistan were 117/4
Akmal 6(9)
Misbah 6(8)
Required Run Rate 6.55

End of Over 33:
Pakistan were 142/4
Misbah 8(24)
Akmal 29(23)
Required Run Rate 7.00

Misbah could've and should've scored at a better pace by taking some singles. I concede that.

However, despite that, at the end of over 33, Pakistan required 119 from 102 balls. Hardly any cause for concern.

At this point in time, I totally understood what Misbah was trying to do. He was trying to take the game deep by preserving wickets in hand.

Even if Pakistan scored 4.5 RPO for the next 9 overs (from overs 33-42), the required target would've become 79 runs off the last 8 overs. If Pakistan had all 6 wickets remaining intact by then, 10 RPO would've been a cakewalk given the batting firepower of Misbah, Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq along with 5 overs of batting powerplay.

Scoring 6.55 RPO off 22 overs with the last recognized batting pair of Misbah and Akmal was a much difficult task than scoring 10 RPO off 8 overs with 5 overs of batting powerplay and Misbah, Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq to bat.

But what happens is Akmal gets out the first ball of the 34th over, Razzaq gets out in the 37th over and Afridi gets himself out trying to hit a six in the 42nd over, killing the contest.

Now the incredible bit is, Pakistan scored 42 runs from 33rd over till the 42nd over. Almost at the same 4.5 RPO that I talked about. But they lost 3 wickets in the process because they got scared of the required run rate by over 33.

When Afridi got out, Pakistan required 77 runs from 49 balls (RRR of 9.43). This should've been a routine chase with 6 wickets in hand and 5 overs of batting powerplay.

Misbah wasn't the one to blame here. Akmal, Razzaq and Afridi didn't understand what was required. Sometimes you just need to sit back and let the other team make their move. If Pakistan isn't losing those 3 wickets by the 43rd over, panic would've engulfed India. It was a great opportunity lost. Nobody can convince me that Pakistan could not hit guys like Munaf, Nehra, Harbhajan for aplenty and score at 10RPO in the last 8 overs of an innings with only 3 players outside the circle.

 

[Cric1234]

Unfortunately only Akmal looked like taking us to a win but got out another 30-40 runs from him would’ve taken us close the rest of the experienced batting line up were a shambles nobody looked comfortable.

Misbah summed up the chase batted too slow then tried to hit out T20 style ODI format is different it’s not easy to chase 10 an over until recently where pitches and the new ball rule have made things more in favour of batsmen.

 

[salahuddin10]

Unpopular opinion but I don't really blame Misbah for the defeat. For me the reason for the defeat was that players like Umar Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq did not have the match awareness to understand what was required.

End of Over 28:
Pakistan were 117/4
Akmal 6(9)
Misbah 6(8)
Required Run Rate 6.55

End of Over 33:
Pakistan were 142/4
Misbah 8(24)
Akmal 29(23)
Required Run Rate 7.00

Misbah could've and should've scored at a better pace by taking some singles. I concede that.

However, despite that, at the end of over 33, Pakistan required 119 from 102 balls. Hardly any cause for concern.

At this point in time, I totally understood what Misbah was trying to do. He was trying to take the game deep by preserving wickets in hand.

Even if Pakistan scored 4.5 RPO for the next 9 overs (from overs 33-42), the required target would've become 79 runs off the last 8 overs. If Pakistan had all 6 wickets remaining intact by then, 10 RPO would've been a cakewalk given the batting firepower of Misbah, Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq along with 5 overs of batting powerplay.

Scoring 6.55 RPO off 22 overs with the last recognized batting pair of Misbah and Akmal was a much difficult task than scoring 10 RPO off 8 overs with 5 overs of batting powerplay and Misbah, Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq to bat.

But what happens is Akmal gets out the first ball of the 34th over, Razzaq gets out in the 37th over and Afridi gets himself out trying to hit a six in the 42nd over, killing the contest.

Now the incredible bit is, Pakistan scored 42 runs from 33rd over till the 42nd over. Almost at the same 4.5 RPO that I talked about. But they lost 3 wickets in the process because they got scared of the required run rate by over 33.

When Afridi got out, Pakistan required 77 runs from 49 balls (RRR of 9.43). This should've been a routine chase with 6 wickets in hand and 5 overs of batting powerplay.

Misbah wasn't the one to blame here. Akmal, Razzaq and Afridi didn't understand what was required. Sometimes you just need to sit back and let the other team make their move. If Pakistan isn't losing those 3 wickets by the 43rd over, panic would've engulfed India. It was a great opportunity lost. Nobody can convince me that Pakistan could not hit guys like Munaf, Nehra, Harbhajan for aplenty and score at 10RPO in the last 8 overs of an innings with only 3 players outside the circle.

Bro 10 an over isnt a cake walk in odis Rarely have teams ever chased 80+ in last 10.Misbah should definitely be blamed but younis shouldnt be spared too who idk how managed to play 200 odis with an avg of 30.Now by the end of 32nd over had misbah scored 20 off 24 rather than 8/24 and younis had scored 28/32 instead of his playing with a pathetic sr of 40 . Pak would have only required 92 of 102 which would have been a piece of cake considering we still had Afridi and Razzaq and ajmal wahab and gul could also bat a little

 

[Zaz]

Unpopular opinion but I don't really blame Misbah for the defeat. For me the reason for the defeat was that players like Umar Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq did not have the match awareness to understand what was required.

End of Over 28:
Pakistan were 117/4
Akmal 6(9)
Misbah 6(8)
Required Run Rate 6.55

End of Over 33:
Pakistan were 142/4
Misbah 8(24)
Akmal 29(23)
Required Run Rate 7.00

Misbah could've and should've scored at a better pace by taking some singles. I concede that.

However, despite that, at the end of over 33, Pakistan required 119 from 102 balls. Hardly any cause for concern.

At this point in time, I totally understood what Misbah was trying to do. He was trying to take the game deep by preserving wickets in hand.

Even if Pakistan scored 4.5 RPO for the next 9 overs (from overs 33-42), the required target would've become 79 runs off the last 8 overs. If Pakistan had all 6 wickets remaining intact by then, 10 RPO would've been a cakewalk given the batting firepower of Misbah, Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq along with 5 overs of batting powerplay.

Scoring 6.55 RPO off 22 overs with the last recognized batting pair of Misbah and Akmal was a much difficult task than scoring 10 RPO off 8 overs with 5 overs of batting powerplay and Misbah, Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq to bat.

But what happens is Akmal gets out the first ball of the 34th over, Razzaq gets out in the 37th over and Afridi gets himself out trying to hit a six in the 42nd over, killing the contest.

Now the incredible bit is, Pakistan scored 42 runs from 33rd over till the 42nd over. Almost at the same 4.5 RPO that I talked about. But they lost 3 wickets in the process because they got scared of the required run rate by over 33.

When Afridi got out, Pakistan required 77 runs from 49 balls (RRR of 9.43). This should've been a routine chase with 6 wickets in hand and 5 overs of batting powerplay.

Misbah wasn't the one to blame here. Akmal, Razzaq and Afridi didn't understand what was required. Sometimes you just need to sit back and let the other team make their move. If Pakistan isn't losing those 3 wickets by the 43rd over, panic would've engulfed India. It was a great opportunity lost. Nobody can convince me that Pakistan could not hit guys like Munaf, Nehra, Harbhajan for aplenty and score at 10RPO in the last 8 overs of an innings with only 3 players outside the circle.

Youre forgetting this was 10 yrs back Not current day where the game has moved on due to t20s and literally anything in the last 10 is chaseable on the flat decks of today

Back then 10-12 runs an over needed is where the game is slipping away from batting team even with 4-5 wkts in hand

It was never a good idea back then to leave too much till the end. I agree the game shouldve been taken deep but not to the point where the likes of misbah are actually blocking 2-3 deliveries an over and not even attempting to look for singles

The likes of afridi were never reliable in the first place and the lineup in reality was very poor quality

The batting lineup was a shamblez, misbah analysed the chase wrong and all the batsmen bottled what shouldve been a simple chase

It was a collective failure on the batting front from the start to finish

 

[shariqnoor]

Bro 10 an over isnt a cake walk in odis Rarely have teams ever chased 80+ in last 10.Misbah should definitely be blamed but younis shouldnt be spared too who idk how managed to play 200 odis with an avg of 30.Now by the end of 32nd over had misbah scored 20 off 24 rather than 8/24 and younis had scored 28/32 instead of his playing with a pathetic sr of 40 . Pak would have only required 92 of 102 which would have been a piece of cake considering we still had Afridi and Razzaq and ajmal wahab and gul could also bat a little

Pakistan scored 91 in the last 10 overs on the same ground in 2007 chasing 322. Scored 39 in the last 3 overs with afridi and tanvir. Without any batting powerplay.

10 rpo off the last 8 overs with all 6 wickets in hand would've been a cakewalk.

Check Misbah's comment on that same match on cricinfi. He said "i really enjoyed the partnership with Younis. We decided if we play 50 overs, we will win the game."

Exactly the same thing was needed here. Just needed to conserve wickets for afridi and razzaq to come and smash it.

 

[rhony]

Was a crazy game. Sehwag smashing Gul in the 1st over, Sachin getting 3 or 4 chances, Akhtar not playing, Wahab's 5 wk haul, Raina's critical cameo, Hafeez's weird shot, YK and Misbah's tuktuk and finally those sixers from Misbah after the game was dusted.

There was a strong energy going against Pak for only one reason. No Indian wanted them to play the final in Mumbai after those attacks. It was chaotic and tension filled for many Indians. Absolutely disgusting for Pak fans For cricket fans, it was just an unusual and weird game.

 

[BreadPakoda]

The hype for this match was unreal. Both teams won their respective semifinals a week before and we had a week of trash-talking from both sides.

ICC also made sure this blockbuster semifinal happens by producing slow pitches in the two quarterfinals.

The amount of hype and pressure overwhelmed both sets of players and almost every player showed nerves. As a result, the match itself was of low quality with both sides playing ordinary cricket.

The result of this match was only hugely significant in the context of the World Cup but also its influence on Pakistan and Indian cricket over the next decade.

While India would have still gone onto become a much better team than Pakistan simply because they had much better talent at their disposal, a lot of things would have been different.

There is no doubt that Pakistan would have gone on to win the World Cup final. Sri Lanka were a strong side in those conditions, but the momentum and confidence that Pakistan would have gained from beating India in the semifinal would have helped them overpower Sri Lanka in Mumbai.

They had already beaten them in Colombo in the group stage and also beat them the in WT20 Final two years back, so Pakistan would have a psychological advantage as well.

Winning the World Cup would have changed Afridi’s legacy completely.

He would have gone on to win the player of the World Cup and would also be the highest wicket-taker.

More importantly, it would have made him a bigger figure in Pakistan cricket than Imran Khan.

Winning a World Cup final India and beating India along the way would have made Afridi the most celebrated hero of Pakistan cricket.

It would also have ensured that he leads the Pakistan team for the next 4 years and at the 2015 World Cup.

With Pakistan winning the World Cup, the Misbah era in ODI and T20Is would have never taken place.

On the contrary, Dhoni’s legacy as captain would have been less celebrated. He would still be considered a great captain but not to this extent, and there would be no biopic either.

Winning the World Cup would have certainly given Pakistan a lot of confidence and boost. It would have replaced the 1992 World Cup as the cornerstone of Pakistan cricket.

PCB would have been able to use its leverage as world champions to get regular bilateral cricket with India in the 2012-2015 period and maybe even accelerate the return of international cricket to Pakistan.

In hindsight, Pakistan should have selected Malik for the World Cup. He was in unreal form in domestic cricket in 2010-11, and he would certainly have handled Yuvraj and Harbhajan better than Younis and Misbah.

Malik batting in the middle-order alongside Umar Akmal in that World Cup would have boosted Pakistan’s batting.

Shafiq did well in that World Cup when he replaced Shehzad who was a complete waste of space. Hafeez and Akmal opening from the beginning with Malik in the middle-order was a much better combination.

That defeat signaled the end of an era as far as Pakistan vs India World Cup rivalry is concerned. It was the last World Cup where Pakistan had a strong chance of beating India. By 2015, it was a more of a David vs Goliath situation.

The Mohali semifinal also signaled the beginning of the end of my love affair with Pakistan cricket. It made me realize that Pakistan will never have the talent and the mentality to become a top side.

Had we won the World Cup, not only would Pakistan cricket be different but PakPassion would also be a different place today.

The 2011 World Cup was the best World Cup of my time as a cricket follower. It was the first World Cup since 1999 that was unpredictable and Australia winning wasn’t a forgone conclusion.

Also, the return of the World Cup to the subcontinent after 15 years caused a lot of excitement in spite of the disappointed of Pakistani losing hosting rights in 2009.

Nevertheless, it was a hugely anticipated World Cup because Pakistan had a very strong chance. The fact that an Indian parrot predicted Pakistan to lift the World Cup also added to the excitement of Pakistani fans.

Terrific analysis. And scary as an Indian fan to even imagine what could have happened had Pakistan won that day. An already overrated Afridi becoming bigger than Imran Khan. Gosh.

 

[salahuddin10]

Pakistan scored 91 in the last 10 overs on the same ground in 2007 chasing 322. Scored 39 in the last 3 overs with afridi and tanvir. Without any batting powerplay.

10 rpo off the last 8 overs with all 6 wickets in hand would've been a cakewalk.

Check Misbah's comment on that same match on cricinfi. He said "i really enjoyed the partnership with Younis. We decided if we play 50 overs, we will win the game."

Exactly the same thing was needed here. Just needed to conserve wickets for afridi and razzaq to come and smash it.

There is a lot of difference between scoring in a bilateral batting first and scoring in a wc semi final while chasing.Secondly that pitch was different here the ball was stopping according to sachin.And if umar akmal would also have played with misbahs approach than pak woulf have required 140 in the last 17 .

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

What a day back in 2011. An to celebrate is amongst Pakistani friends in a Pakistani restaurant,
in Spain... Was something else. Lot of trash talk before the game amongst friends.. a friendly banter of sorts.. like how Misbah would finish the job he left behind in 2007. He finished the game alright, but for Pakistan in this case.

Off course i was on the receiving end in 2017 CT, but that is the nature of relationship between India and Pakistan.. fun times.

 

[Bilal7]

The only defeat to India that still hurts. Even despite the six dropped catches, a target of ~260 against that bowling attack would have been chased down by that batting lineup 9 times out of 10. Lots of ifs but it was meant to happen.

It was a great match.

 

[Thomaskutty]

Mashallah, it was a great victory. Thanks for reminding us.

It amazes me that Pakistan haven't beaten us in a single world cup encounter in 30 years, be it odis or t20. Generations to come will scarce believe the mental fragility of this well funded international sports team that always stumbled at the big stage !

 

[battler]

In spite of Sehwag’s early onslaught, India were on the ropes at 200/7 and Pakistan were into the tail. Had Pakistan restricted them to 220-230, they would have won in spite of the bottle-job with the bat.

Raina’s innings was the real game-changer in the context of the match. 4 years later, he played another stellar innings against Pakistan in the 2015 World Cup.

Raina's innings and that magical leg cutter by Munaf patel to Razzaq will forever be etched in the minds of Indian fans!

 

[OMB]

Yes Raina innings was crucial as he saved the tail that day and scored very useful 36. he was the difference.

 

[Snowflake]

Unpopular opinion but I don't really blame Misbah for the defeat. For me the reason for the defeat was that players like Umar Akmal, Afridi and Razzaq did not have the match awareness to understand what was required.

End of Over 28:
Pakistan were 117/4
Akmal 6(9)
Misbah 6(8)
Required Run Rate 6.55

End of Over 33:
Pakistan were 142/4
Misbah 8(24)
Akmal 29(23)
Required Run Rate 7.00

You cannot blame the lower order to take you home when the middle order (main Misbah and Younis) have messed it all up! There is absolutely NO REASON for the RRR to go from 6.55 to 7 that too when Akmal, who is the less experienced batsman, is playing at a strike of over 100!!! From 6(8) to 8(24) is CRIMINAL! You would expect an experienced player to, if not take the game away from the opposition, at least bat at around run a ball to stay well ahead of the game. Misbah's approach here was absolutely disgusting and SO cowardly! It makes me angry just typing this out!

 

[Snowflake]

Younis scored 13 off 32 balls, a strike rate of 40.62. Misbah scored 17 from the first 42 balls he faced, playing out 27 dots. During this period Pakistan’s required run rate jumped from 6.07 to 8.45. During the 74 balls in which Younis and Misbah were at the crease together, 30 runs were scored.

Damn you Misbah and Younis! What makes me even more angry is that these guys probably do not even realize that they were the ones that cost Pakistan the game!

 

[NishanKonar]

I still remember Umar Akmal's innings. It was such a fighting counter attack. At that time I really thought Umar wud have a better career than Rohit & Kohli !

 

[Amjid Javed]

Dropped catches
Shocking DRS decisions
Stupid pathetic brain fades with the bat when playing well.

Pakistan lost this game through there own carelessness and stupidity.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Game on now imam is out.