The world champions rode McGrath's spell to romp into the final for the first time with a 34-run victory over the Kiwis, but not before surviving a scare from the duo of Oram and Vettori.
Playing true to their current form, India continued with their agonising sequence of flops to allow the Aussie juggernaut to canter into the semi-finals with an emphatic six-wicket thrashing.
The opener cracked a fluent century to find his way into the record books as Sri Lanka launched their campaign with a scrappy 37-run victory over Bangladesh in a qualifying match.
With a young Irfan and a rejuvenated Sachin, captain Dravid sets off to a great start, with even the spin of the coin favouring him and decisions paying off.
The Pakistanis outplayed the hosts in all the departments to record a thumping 159-run victory in the high-profile match marred briefly by unruly crowd behaviour after a ceremonious start.
Just 13 dismissals on the first four days, the 10 wickets today come a day too late as both sides claim their 'gains' and shift focus on the decider in Kolkata.
The result now a foregone conclusion, Sehwag's (164) ruthless exhibition of stroke play enlivens proceedings on yet another fog-hit day and provides the ideal platform for the top order to come good after a prolonged lean run.
Scoring at a rate of over four runs an over, Sehwag and Gambhir (85 apiece) take the stuffing out of the South African attack to power the hosts, chasing 510-9 declared, to 185 --their highest opening partnership against the rivals.
As if Hall's career-best 163 in a marathon 588 minutes was not enough to torment the Indian spinners, toiling relentlessly on a 'lifeless track, debutant Zander de Bruyn's 83 multiplies the hosts' woes as South Africa place themselves in a commanding
In his maiden appearance as a Test opener, the all-rounder plays the sheet-anchor role to perfection as his unbeaten 78 in the company of Boeta Dippenaar (46) leads the visitors' fightback after old warhorse Kumble had reduced them to 154-4.
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