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NEWS Champions Trophy in England>Pak pays for Inzamam's decision to bat first 22nd Sept 2004 21.08 IST By CricketZone Bureau Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul Haq's inexplicable decision to bat first on winning the toss backfired on him as his team was beaten by the West Indies by 7 wickets in the second semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on September 22. After Inzamam’s baffling decision, Pakistan were bowled out for a shocking 131 in 38.2 overs – their sixth lowest ODI total against the Windies. The Windies raced to the victory target in just 28.1 overs with Ramnaresh Sarwan (56) and Ricardo Powell (6) seeing their team through. Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar gave his team a glimmer of hope by dismissing Windies’ openers Chris Gayle (1) and Wavell Hinds (5). But Windies’ skipper Brian Lara made his intentions to finish off the match quickly by attacking the Pakistani bowlers right from the word go. Lara scored 31 runs off 30 balls with five fours before he was hit by a bouncer from Akhtar and had to leave the field. Shivnarine Chanderpaul scored 11 runs before falling to Shoaib Malik. But Sarwan continued with his good form and guided his team safely to victory and was adjudged the Man of the Match. Earlier, Windies’ pace bowler Dwayne Bravo, with two wickets and two run-outs, and occasional medium-pacer Wavell Hinds, with two wickets in four balls, instigated the Pakistani collapse as the last seven batsmen fell for 31. Lara's team was on top from the moment the Pakistan captain opted to bat first on a Rose Bowl pitch expected to favour seam and swing. Opener Salman Butt, on his one-day international debut, fell for a second-ball duck and every batsman thereafter struggled to cobble together a meaningful score. Bravo had struggled early on, his first three overs costing 22 runs, before he switched ends to remove Malik (17) and Yousuf Youhana (12). Nothing went right for Inzamam. A notoriously bad runner between the wickets, he was involved in both run-outs before snicking a gentle outswinger behind after making 22 to give Hinds his first wicket. Moin Khan followed lbw almost immediately for a duck. Shahid Afridi (17) tried his best to clout a few runs but his team had already lost direction. West Indies will now play England in the final at The Oval on Saturday. Also View In-Depth Coverage: Champions Trophy in England Team Page: West Indies Team Page: Pakistan | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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