Australia drilled the nail in India's coffin on wednesday afternoon by beating Pakistan by two wickets. India went on to beat the West Indies but the game was a dead rubber after Australia won themselves the semi-final spot earlier in the day.
It all could have been so different for India, as Australia nearly threw the game away, Protea's style, whilst seemingly flying along to victory Australia lost six wickets for 46 runs and all of a sudden it was game on.
Australia won a thrilling match against Pakistan by two wickets to reach the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy and to knock India out of the event.
Pakistan made a disappointing 205-6 off 50 overs with Mohammad Yousuf (45), Kamran Akmal (44) and Misbah-ul-Haq (44) all making good contributions against some accurate Australia bowling.
In reply, Australia appeared to be coasting to victory when it was 140-2, but Ricky Ponting's dismissal sparked a dramatic collapse which threatened to eliminate it from the tournament.
Michael Hussey, who won the Man of the Match Award for an excellent 64, fell to make it 174-5 which led to a flurry of wickets with four wickets falling in 4.3 overs.
In the end Australia was left to be grateful to Nathan Hauritz and Brett Lee adding 19 for the ninth wicket which sealed a semi-final match against England on Friday.
Yahoonews, Reuters Johannesburg: Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra shared six wickets as India beat West Indies by seven wickets but still went out of the ICC Champions Trophy on Wednesday.
India failed to advance to the semi-finals from Group A after Australia beat Pakistan earlier in the day.
India end the group stage with a single victory while West Indies lost all three of their matches in the competition.
India skittled West Indies for 129 in 36 overs, with seamer Kumar capturing three for 22 and left-arm swing bowler Nehra taking three for 31.
In reply, India cruised to 130 for three off 32.1 overs thanks to a second-wicket stand of 92 from Dinesh Karthik (34) and Virat Kohli who finished unbeaten on 79.
After winning the toss and electing to field, India's opening bowlers Kumar and Nehra both swung the new ball prodigiously as West Indies slumped to 31 for four inside 11 overs.
Kumar, in particular, was impressive as his opening spell yielded the superb figures of two for 15 off eight overs.
In an unusual move India's captain and wicketkeeper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni gave up his gloves to bowl the 17th over of the innings.
Dhoni's decision proved to be an inspired one as the medium-pacer bowled Travis Dowlin to claim his first wicket in one-day international cricket.
After their top-order had been quickly dismantled the West Indies continued to struggle with the bat.
India's run-chase got off to a rocky start as they slipped to 12 for two before Karthik and Kohli steadied the innings.
Jason Humphries
