THE MOMENT: Man of the Match Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni fly into each other's arms at the moment of victory against Pakistan in Mohali on Wednesday. (AFP picture)

It was good to win the toss and it was a dream start, especially the way Virender Sehwag batted. This Indian team has the best batting line-up and has the power to win a match from any situation.Yuvraj Singh got the crucial breakthrough by scalping Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan in quick succession when the team needed it and everybody chipped in. He got the breakthrough at a very crucial stage and that proved to be the turning point of the match. It was great to see him bowling so well.

Pakistan could not handle the pressure well and succumbed in the later stages of the game. To add to their misery, they also fielded poorly.

Although India were 20 runs short of a good score in the semi-final, finally they managed to win. It was a great team effort and everybody made contributions one way or the other. The strength of this team is not on one particular player and that is the best thing.

But I have never seen a batsman of Sachin Tendulkar’s calibre getting so many chances in his innings and not capitalising on them to score a century. He should have scored a hundred today.

As the match progressed, we could feel the pressure on both the teams, apart from Sehwag who played his natural game at ease. He never allowed the pressure of the big match to take hold of him.

Dhoni, we know, is a strong batsman but he did not play his natural game. And during his innings, the Indian team struggled despite the fabulous start provided by Sehwag. Dhoni should have rotated the strike more and played his natural game in a pressure game like this.

I was not convinced with the score of 260, the result of a big fightback by the Pakistani bowlers. Around 280-85 would have been a good score on this wicket but nobody looked as fluent at the crease as Sehwag.

The expectations from the team were very high and India’s decision to leave out R. Ashwin to make way for Ashish Nehra was the best possible option available with the team. So I didn’t find anything wrong as that was the best possible team.

It was the right decision to play Nehra in this match considering the pitch in Mohali. The team needed to make changes according to the prevailing conditions. Ashwin can always come back in the next game but Nehra’s inclusion in today’s match was important and he justified it and came out with flying colours.

I think this Indian team is very talented and has not played to their potential so far but is still winning. I hope they will play to its potential in the final match against Sri Lanka and would come out victorious.

It was great to see the Prime Minister of the neighbouring country coming to watch the match. I hope this will go a long way in improving the relations between the two countries. People of both the countries need to work to improve the relations.

Above all, 2 per cent negative people cannot control our lives.