ICC World Cup 2015: India vs Australia, 2nd Semi-final: Stats of the match

Australia defeated India by a massive 95-run margin in the second semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup, at Sydney, today to book a final clash with co-hosts New Zealand at the MCG on March 29.Batting first, the Aussies, riding on a fine century from Steven Smith, posted 328/7 on the board. In reply, India were all out for 233 runs in the 47th over. Here are some of the important number numbers from the match:

#1 Dhoni - only 3rd player to score 6000 ODI runs as captain

MS Dhoni, who has captained India in 178 ODIs, has become only the third player to score 6,000 ODI runs as captain. Leading the list is former Australian captain Ricky Ponting with 8,497 runs from 230 matches. While it is difficult to see Dhoni going past Ponting, the 33-year-old only needs to score 274 more runs to topple former New Zealand great Stephen Fleming from second spot.

Here is the list of top 5 players with most runs as ODI captain:

Player	Country	Innings	Runs	Average
Ricky Ponting	Australia	220	8497	42.91
Stephen Fleming	New Zealand	208	6295	32.78
MS Dhoni	India	153	6022	56.81
Arjuna Ranatunga	Sri Lanka	183	5608	37.63
Graeme Smith	South Africa	148	5416	38.96

#2 Steve Smith\'s 50s and Australian wins

Australian No.3 batsman Steven Smith has 10 fifty+ scores in ODIs – 6 50s and 4 100s, and all of them have come in winning causes. Smith registered his highest ODI score today, scoring 105 off just 93 balls. Coming into bat in the fourth over after the dismissal of David Warner, he right-hander looked in sublime touch before holing out in the deep attempting a pull off Umesh Yadav.

#3 India handed biggest semi-final defeat

Australia defeated India by a massive margin of 95 runs today, which is the biggest semi-final defeat in terms of runs in the history of ODI World Cup; as a result, Kenya’s 91-run loss to India in the 2003 semi-final fixture at Durban has been pushed to second spot.

Team	Opposition	Margin	Year
Australia	India	95 runs	2015
India	Kenya	91 runs	2003
Sri Lanka	New Zealand	81 runs	2007
Australia	Sri Lanka	48 runs	2003
West Indies	Pakistan	43 runs	1979

#4 Highest team score in a WC semi-final

Australias 328/7 is the highest teamscore in a semi-final match in the history of ODI World Cup, beating New Zealands 299/7 against South Africa at Eden Park, Auckland, a couple of days ago. Interestingly, before the record was broken twice in two days,West Indies team score of 293/6 against Pakistan on 20 June1979 at the Oval remained unbeaten for close to 35 years.

Team	Score	Opposition	Edition
Australia	328/7	India	2015
New Zealand	299/6	South Africa	2015
West Indies	293/6	Pakistan	1979
Sri Lanka	289/5	New Zealand	2007
South Africa	281/5	New Zealand	2015

#5 Third-leading wicket-taker of the tournament - Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav picked up 4 wickets today to end as Indian cricket team's leading wicket-taker of the World Cup. He is at third spot in the tournament’s leading wicket-takers only behind to Trent Boult and Mitchell Starc who have 21 and 20 wickets to their name respectively. With New Zealand and Australia facing off each other in the final, both Boult and Starc have one more match to settle the scores.

Player	Country	Matches	Wickets
Trent Boult	New Zealand	8	21
Mitchell Starc	Australia	7	20
Umesh Yadav	India	8	18
Mohammed Shami	India	7	17
Morne Morkel	South Africa	8	17
Jerome Taylor	West Indies	7	17