They made 90 and after Tendulkar’s departure, Sidhu was involved in another good partnership with Sanjay Manjrekar. India lost a few wickets in the middle after some useful knocks and needed a good hand in the end to finish well. It was provided by Ajay Jadeja who smashed 45 off 25, bringing the Bangalore crowd to its feet. He was harsh on Waqar Younis and smashed him all over the park.
Pakistan too got off to a great start through Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail. But Javagal Srinath got Anwar playing away from his body and then a moment of madness cost Sohail his wicket. Pakistan fought back through Salim Malik and Javed Miandad but a fine piece of fielding saw Miandad run out. Kumble then got a couple of wickets late in the game and Pakistan fell short by 39 runs.
India v Pakistan – ICC World Cup, 2003 – Centurion – March 1, 2003
India entered this match with a perfect record against Pakistan in World Cups and wanted to maintain that. They were set a target of 274 by Pakistan, mainly due to an excellent hundred from Saeed Anwar, who had tormented India in the past as well. But India had an in form Sachin Tendulkar at the top of the order and he produced one of his best innings to take India to a comfortable position before he departed for a well made 98.
Then a wonderful partnership between Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh guided India home and helped them maintain that perfect record.
Tendulkar was in prime form, be it flicking balls off his legs, or driving through the covers. He was also not afraid to cut the fast bowlers and his upper cut for six off the bowling of Shoaib Akhtar will always be a pleasant memory for billions of Indians.
India were also helped by two vital innings. Mohammed Kaif played a patient innings and stopped the flow of wickets when he came at number four. In the end, Yuvraj then dispatched the bowling to all corners of the field to take India to victory against their arch rivals.