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India Wins Semi-Final World Cup Cricket Match Against Pakistan

   VOA News  March 30, 2011

Photo: Reuters

   India's Harbhajan Singh (2nd L) is congratulated by teammates Yuvraj
   Singh (L), Virender Sehwag (C), captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh
   Dhoni and Suresh Raina (R) after taking the wicket of Pakistan's
   captain Shahid Afridi during their ICC Cricket World Cup 2011
   semi-final match in Mohali March 30, 2011.

   India has won bragging rights over Pakistan after beating its
   arch-rival on the cricket field and advancing to the World Cup final
   match against Sri Lanka set for Saturday.
   Life for more than a billion people across India and Pakistan came to a
   standstill during the semi-final match Wednesday. India beat Pakistan
   by 29 runs, 260 to 231.

   Tickets for the semi-final match had been sold out for days, and most
   businesses and offices in both countries were closed during the play.

   Reuters Images

   Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart,
   Yousuf Raza Gilani, showed a rare unified front, as they watched most
   of the match together from a private box at the stadium in the northern
   Indian city of Mohali.

   The show of friendly competition follows two days of peace talks
   between the two countries. Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai and
   Pakistan's Interior Secretary Chaudhary Qamar Zaman met in New Delhi
   this week.

   It was the first formal dialogue since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks,
   during which Pakistan-based militants killed 166 people.

   In a joint statement Tuesday, Islamabad agreed "in principle" to allow
   a team from India to investigate the attacks, while New Delhi said a
   Pakistani delegation would travel to India to probe the attacks. The
   two sides also agreed to establish a hotline to share real-time
   information on terrorist threats.

   India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their 1947 independence
   from Britain.

   So-called "cricket diplomacy" has been used as a platform to ease
   India-Pakistan tension in the past. In 1987 and 2005, Pakistani leaders
   traveled to India to watch cricket matches.
   Discuss cricket with other VOA readers on our [1]new forum.
   

References

   1. http://forums.voanews.com/forumdisplay.php?19-Cricket

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