India set up a mouth-watering final match with arch rivals Pakistan after defeating Australia by 15 runs in a cracker of a game at Durban. 

The men in blue posted a stiff target of 189 runs after recovering from a poor start with Yuvraj Singh once again coming good with 70 runs in just 30 balls to turn the match on its head. Mahendra Singh Dhoni chipped in with 36 runs of 18 balls as India scored 128 runs in the final 10 overs.

Earlier Australian bowlers had done well to restrict the Indian openers to a run rate of just around 6 as Mitchell Johnson grabbed the wicket of Virender Sehwag for just 9 runs. Goutam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa built up a steady partnership, but were unable to free their arms as Australia looked on top with India scoring just 60 runs from 10 overs.

Johnson claimed his second wicket of the match as Gambhir was out caught by Brad Hodge with the score on 41. The wicket heralded the arrival of Yuvraj Singh and the left hander started his innings from where he left off against England, hitting Stuart Clarke to a six over backward square leg and launched the assault on the Aussie bowlers.

Yuvraj reached his fifty in the 14th over as India scored 65 runs in the next five overs. There was some respite for the Aussies when Uthappa was run out thanks to a direct hit by Andrew Symonds. Yuvraj was joined in the middle by captain Dhoni and the two scored at a blistering rate of more than 10 runs an over before Yuvraj was finally out to Michael Clarke in the 18th over trying to heave the left arm spinner over the midwicket.

However there was no let off for Australia as Dhoni continued to score at the same pace as India finished at a score of 188/5 in the allotted 20 overs. Australia started off their innings on a cautious note as Sreesanth managed to keep both Gilchrist and Hayden quite.

The Kerla speedster then sent Gilchrist packing to the pavilion with a great delivery that sent the middle stump flying. Australia were looking increasingly uncomfortable as they chalked up just 37 runs from the first 6 overs.

With Sreesanth out of the attack, Hayden and Hodge started to attack and scored 30 runs in the next two overs before Irfan Pathan had Hodge caught by Joginder Sharma at short fine leg. Symonds joined Hayden in the middle and the two tried to shore up the innings.

Dhoni then brought back Sreesanth and the move paid instant dividends as Hayden was clean bowled at the score of 62, leaving the remaining batsmen with a mammoth task. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and the Aussies were left with 22 runs in the final over.

Joginder Sharma bagged the wickets of Hussey and Bret Lee as Mitchell Johnson was left with the impossible task of scoring 20 runs from the final ball, which the speedster dispatched to the boundary, triggering wild celebrations on the field.

With India having already beaten Pakistan in their group match, expectations are high as the men in blue are being termed as favorites to lift the trophy. The BCCI has already announced a reward of $10 million for the team and more riches await the players if they manage to beat Pakistan in the final on Monday.

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