Chasing 152 for victory, South Africa fell one run too short at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
India had to restrict the Proteas to 121 or less to qualify for the semis to keep Pakistan out. But South Africa reached 122 for five in the 17th over.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan will go head to head in one semi on Thursday, while Australia will go up against West Indies in the other on Friday.
Ravichandran Ashwin took care of Johan Botha (8), caught by Suresh Raina, while Albie Morkel (10) was bowled off Lakshmipathy Balaji. Morne Morkel was the last man to go bowled off Balaji.
Jean-Paul Duminy (16) went packing for a catch to Gautam Gambhir at deep square leg off Lakshmipathy Balaji.
That was followed by dismissals of Farhan Behardien (13) and Robin Peterson (10) in consecutive deliveries from Zaheer Khan, creating a hat-trick chance for him - which he eventually missed.
Faf du Plessis (65 off 38 balls) played a superb knock to lift South Africa. His 29-ball fifty innings had six boundaries and a couple of sixes. In an attempt to strike over long off, du Plessis shot went straight into the hands of Suresh Raina.
Yuvraj Singh sent back skipper AB de Villiers (13) who defended only to pop the ball up to the stumps.
South Africa opener Hashim Amla (0) went back in the very first over as he nicked Zaheer Khan for a catch to Virender Sehwag at first slip. One down Jacques Kallis (6) followed soon being caught out by Rohit Sharma off Irfan Pathan.
Balaji and Zaheer took three wickets each, with Yuvraj taking two wickets and Irfan, Ashwin taking a wicket each.
Earlier, India scored 152 for 6 in their 20 overs.
Suresh Raina (45 off 34 balls), dropped on 36, struck five boundaries and was run out off the very last ball of the innings, while skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni remained unbeaten (23 off 13).
Things went from bad to worse for India when Yuvraj Singh's (21 off 15 balls) cameo came to an end when Morne Morkel's slower yorker went through his defences. Rohit Sharma (25), after a 44-run fifth wicket recovery stand with Raina, was trapped in front of the stumps by Robin Peterson.
Before that, India opener Gautam Gambhir (8) went packing early as he inside edged Morkel onto the stumps, with danger-man Virat Kohli (2) being caught behind off Jacques Kallis the very next over. Peterson ripped out the off stump of Virender Sehwag (17) after being struck for a six.
Morne Morkel and Peterson bagged two wickets each while Kallis took a wicket.
0 comments:
Post a Comment