It was also a much closer match for the West Indies in the semi-finals but, maybe a little worryingly for India, they reversed one of the two defeats they suffered in the league stage. Lara’s side beat Kumar Sangakkara’s Sri Lanka by six runs in a thriller of a game that boiled down to the last over.

India, the only other side to beat the West Indies in the league stage, romped to the final with a 94-run win over Australia. Shahbaz Nadeem took four wickets as Australia were all out for 126 chasing a target of 221. Australia lost as many as three wickets in the powerplay, including those of Shane Watson and Ben Dunk who have been their chief source of runs in this tournament. Vinay Kumar struck twice while Shahbaz Nadeem got one and Australia were left with a score of 51/3 at the end of the powerplay.

There were many positives for India to take in that match. Captain Tendulkar ensured that they struck at over 10 runs an over throughout the powerplay. Yuvraj Singh put up a partnership of 47 runs with the great man before the latter fell on 42 off 30. Yuvraj continued on his own merry way before falling on 59 in 30 balls. Yusuf and Irfan Pathan then provided a big finish to take India to a score of 220/7.