India's R.P. Singh (second right) hugs teammate Robin Uthapa as South Africa's Makhaya Ntini (left) leaves the ground after India beat South Africa during their Twenty20 World Championship match in Durban yesterday. - AP

DURBAN (Reuters):

HOSTS SOUTH Africa were eliminated from the Twenty20 World Cup after paceman Rudra Pratap Singh led India to a 37-run win in their Group E Super Eights match yesterday. Singh took four for 13 as South Africa made 116 for nine in reply to India's 153 for five.

It means tomorrow's semi-finals will feature Pakistan against New Zealand in Cape Town and Australia versus India in Durban.

Man of the match Rohit Sharma (50 not out) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (45) propped up India's total with a stand of 85 for the fifth wicket.

India, who won the toss and chose to bat, needed rescuing after losing three wickets for one run in four balls to slump to 33 for three.

South Africa, in reply, lurched to 12 for three and 31 for five before Mark Boucher (36) and Albie Morkel (36) shared a partnership of 69. But Singh ended South Africa's hopes of scoring the 126 runs they needed to sneak into the semi-finals on net run-rate when he bowled Morkel in the 19th over.

Earlier in the day, Australia advanced to the semi-finals by toruncing Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in Johannesburg. Pakistan then joined Australia in the semi-finals after a four-wicket win over Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka collapsed to 101 all out in the 20th over of their innings, with Stuart Clark taking 4-20. Australia's opening pair of Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden easily reached 102 without loss off 10.2 overs.

It was a rematch of the 50-over World Cup final, held in Barbados on April 29, in which Australia beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs.

Chose to bowl

With regular captain Ricky Ponting out of the tournament with a hamstring injury, Gilchrist won the toss at the Newlands Stadium and chose to bowl.

Gilchrist's decision paid off as Brett Lee had Sanath Jayasuriya trapped leg before wicket in the first over - and the Sri Lanka batsmen never recovered.

Kumar Sangakkara offered some resistance with a painstaking 22 off 23 balls, and Jehan Mubarak tried to inject some respectability with 28 off 26.

The only other players to reach double figures were bowlers Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga. Vaas scored 21, and Malinga hit the only six of the innings on his way to an undefeated 12.

Nathan Bracken finished with 2-14. Hayden hit his third half century of the tournament, reaching 50 off 36 balls, and finishing on 58 off 38 with seven fours and two sixes. Gilchrist was on 31 off 25 balls.

It was an easy win for Pakistan at Newlands, as Bangladesh were restricted to 140 in their innings and Pakistan reached the target with an over to spare.

Bangladesh put themselves in a good position after being asked to bat by Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik. With the total on 79 and the end of the 10th over looming, Bangladesh had only lost one wicket, and newcomer Zunaed Siddique was batting well with Aftab Ahmed.

But after Ahmed was stumped for 15, it triggered a collapse where Bangladesh lost five wickets for 30 runs in five overs.