Former
Indian pacer Ashish Nehra has described batting legend Sachin Tendulkar’s
innings against Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup semi-final as his “scratchiest
innings”.

Sachin was let
off the hook multiple times as he was dropped on 27, 45, 70 and 81, in addition
to an LBW decision being overturned by the third umpire on 23.

Speaking during Wisden’s weekly podcast Greatest Rivalry, Nehra said, “Needless to say, even Sachin
Tendulkar himself knows how lucky he was in that game. It was one of his
scratchiest innings you’ll see. Whenever you’ve seen Tendulkar scoring even 40,
you will see bad decisions or catches being dropped. But not that many and luck
going your way that much.”

Sachin’s knock of 85 was the highest contribution from a Indian batsman in that match and was crucial in guiding India to a total of 260. India managed to successfully defend the total and secure a berth in the final.

The semifinal
against Pakistan ended up being Nehra’s last appearance for India in ODI
cricket. The Delhi-born pacer played a total of 120 ODIs and took 157 wickets,
including two in the semifinal.

The win
kept intact India’s perfect World Cup record against their arch-rivals, which
currently stands at 7-0.

“See when
you talk about a World Cup, whether it’s India-Pakistan, India-England, or any
other team, it’s all pressure. You’ve reached the semifinal, you’re a good team
but in the end it’s all down to how you handle pressure,” Nehra said.

Nehra said
India could’ve scored gone on to score around 350 runs given the start they
had, although he lauded India’s bowling effort to restrict Pakistan to 231.

“The way
Virender Sehwag started against Umar Gul (taking him for four fours in an
over), at one point of time, we might score 340-350. We ended up 257-58 if I’m
not wrong. When we were bowling, Pakistan had a very good start and defending
257 was a great effort by the Indian team. There’s no doubt about it,” Nehra
said.