India win toss; elect to bat first against Pakistan

Agencies

Mohali, 30 March 2011: Indian skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first against Pakistan, much to the delight of the jam packed PCA stadium.

 

There was one big change in the Indian outfit with pacer Ashish Nehra coming in the place of spinner R Ashwin. Pakistan on the other hand, went in with the same squad as their last match against West Indies.

 

Words would not be able to express the intensity of the match of all matches India against Pakistan in the semi-finals of a World Cup that is held in the sub-continent, also the most watched in history even before the first ball was bowled.

 

Pakistan (Playing XI): Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal(w), Asad Shafiq, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi(c), Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal

 

India (Playing XI): Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni(w/c), Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra

 

Pitch Report: The wicket is well rolled, the cracks haven`t moved at all. There could be a little bit of pace and some movement under the lights.

 

Of the 15 day night matches played in Mohali, the team batting first has won the game on 10 occasions. India have played 8 day night games in Mohali; they have a win percentage of 50. India and Pakistan have played twice in Mohali, and on both occasions, Pakistan emerged victorious.

 

On 31st March 2001 Sachin Tendulkar became the first person to score 10,000 runs in ODIs. Ten years later, on the 30th of March 2011, will he be the first one to score 100 international tons?

 

Weather Report: Max temperature : 32 deg. Hot and humid with plenty of sunshine.