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India beat Pakistan 3-0 in a five-ball bowl-out at three stumps after the crucial Twenty20 World Cup Group D game in Durban ended in a tie on Friday.
Chasing India's modest total of 141 for 9, Pakistan made a late charge to finish level on 141-7.
In the bowl-out, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa were on target for the Indians while none of the Pakistanis could find the target. Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi were way off the mark.
As per the rules of cricket's latest version, if a match ends with the scores tied there must be a winner. The tie is broken by a bowl-out, something similar to a penalty shoot-out in football and field hockey.
The teams nominate five players to bowl at a set of stumps over 22 yards and take alternate attempts at hitting the target. The team that registers the most hits wins.
In case there is still a tie after the first round, the same bowlers have another go.
If the number of wickets is equal after the first 10 balls per side, the bowl-out continues and is decided by sudden-death, which means that the team missing the first hit loses.
Defending a total that hardly left any margin for error, R P Singh made early inroads when he castled Imran Nazir for 7.
Salman Butt (16), Kamran Akmal (15) and Younis Khan (2) returned in quick successions as Pakistan woke up to harsh reality with four of their top batsmen back in the pavilion with the score reading just 47.
They kept losing wickets at regular intervals and Harbhajan Singh raised hopes of an Indian victory when he dismissed dismissing the dangerous Shahid Afridi for just seven.
Misbah-ul Haq (53 - 35b, 7x4, 1x6) almost pulled off victory for his team, but an alert Yuvraj had him run-out to leave the scores tied.
Despite the defeat, Pakistan also made it to the next stage, thanks to their victory over Scotland, who ended up with a solitary point from the rain-ruined match against India on Thursday.
Scotland could have qualified for the Super Eights had Pakistan reached the target inside 14.4 overs.
Earlier, a four-wicket burst from Mohammad Asif rocked India before Robin Uthappa and Mahendra Singh Dhoni propped the side to 141 for 9.
In a rain-plagued match at Kignsmead, the Indian top order succumbed to Asif's deadly spell, stuttering to 36 for four, before Uthappa (50, 39b, 4x4, 2x6), and later Dhoni (33, 31b, 3x4, 1x6), helped bring some respectability to the score.
The Indians had a disastrous start as the cagey Gautam Gambhir (0) left the first ball from Mohammad Asif, missed the second and perished to the third. The pressure of two dot balls got the better of the batsman who came dancing down the track to hit Asif only to see the pacer catch him off his own bowling on the second attempt.
Virender Sehwag opened the account with a crisp flick off Umar Gul but then attempted a drive and dragged an Asif delivery onto the stumps to end his three-ball stay that yielded five runs.
With the team score one-run shy of double figures, India had both its openers cooling their heels in the pavilion.
Asif ensured that was not the end of trouble for the Indians. His third over again yielded a wicket and this time it was Yuvraj Singh (1) who spooned a simple catch for Shoaib Malik at point and India were gasping for breath at 19 for three in 4.1 overs.
Dinesh Karthik (11) struck Asif for couple of fours in that over to bring some relief, but in the end the pacer had the last laugh when he came back in his final over to castle the batsman when the ball came off a thick inside edge.
Asif thus struck once in each of his four overs and returned impressive figures of 4-0-18-4.
In walked Dhoni with his team in a mess and he too was at sea against Sohail Tanvir's difficult angles.
Uthappa was silent at the other end, but once Asif was off, he went after Yasir Arafat in the 10th over, hitting the seamer for two towering sixes to score 17 off that over that also took India past the 50-run mark.
India were 68 for 4 in 10.3 overs when light rain interrupted play. Uthappa came back to hit Shahid Afridi for a couple of fours to reach his 50 in the 12th over, but his concentration was snapped as he nicked Tanvir and was caught behind after a scintillating 39-ball knock that was studded with four fours and two sixes.
Dhoni and Irfan Pathan (20, 15b, 2x6) were happy with the occasional boundaries before Pathan decided to go after Afridi. He smote the bowler for two massive sixes, but Afridi foxed him with a faster delivery that upset his timberwork and India were 111 for six.
Dhoni too opened up, straight driving Yasir for a four and then hoicking him over fine leg for the maximum. But another brief rain break was followed by another setback as Afridi castled Harbhajan Singh (1).
Ajit Agarkar (14) provided some lusty heats but Dhoni departed just when he looked like unleashing himself. He went for a drive only to offer a skier to Younis Khan.
