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World Cup flashbacks: When Afridi felt that Tendulkar's black magic worked

Shahid Afridi's side ended as group champions of the 2011 World Cup and then blew away the West Indies by 10 wickets in the quarterfinals to inch closer to an unprecedented title win in India.

Sachin Tendulkar

Bengaluru, May 17: It was yet another India versus Pakistan knock-out clash in the ICC Cricket World Cup since the 1996 quarter finals and the venue was Mohali.

Shahid Afridi's side ended as group champions of the 2011 World Cup and then blew away the West Indies by 10 wickets in the quarterfinals to inch closer to an unprecedented title win in India.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men, on the other hand, lost to South Africa, the match against England ended in a tie and had to try hard to get rid of Australia in the quarterfinals.

Tendulkar was dropped four times

The boxers were inside the ring in Mohali where Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat. The hosts had a good start though none of the batsmen capitalised on it and it was again the old warhorse Sachin Tendulkar, playing in his final World Cup, who stood between Pakistan and an easy target to make the finals. None of his two centuries scored in the tournament could bring India luck but this time, luck relentlessly kept on blessing the Master Blaster.

Tendulkar scored 85 in the match off 115 balls, slow by his standards. But what made it one of his worst yet one of the luckiest one for India was that fact that he got five lives during that knock. Yes, while he was dropped on four occasions, he had a close shave with an lbw appeal. Afridi went through an emotional roller-coaster ride as the catches kept on finding butter fingers and later, in a TV show in his home country, Afridi had quipped that it was Tendulkar's "black magic" which had worked that day.

Eventually, Tendulkar was caught by Afridi off the bowling of Saeed Ajmal but India had the launching pad to accelerate by then.

Tendulkar's non-stylish but substantial knock went on to win India their fifth World Cup clash with Pakistan and the Mumbaikar was adjudged the man of the match on three of those occasions.

Story first published: Friday, May 17, 2019, 14:39 [IST]
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