World T20: Kohli scripts masterclass to propel India to semis

World T20: Kohli scripts masterclass to propel India to semis

no photo

|

Image Courtesy: © Twitter - ICC

Under pressure, Virat Kohli scripted another masterful chase to single-handedly take India to a six-wicket victory against Australia at Mohali today to enter the semis of the World T20. Earlier, after winning the toss, Australia had put 160/6 on the board on the back of a good start by its openers.

Brief Scores: Australia 160/6 in 20/20 overs (Finch 43(34), Maxwell 31(28), Pandya 2/36) lost to India 161/4 in 19.1/20 overs (Kohli 82*(51), Yuvraj 21(18), Watson 2/23) by six wickets

Chasing a challenging total of 161, India got off to a steady start with Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma banking on singles rather than throwing the bat at everything. But, when the ball came in their range, they grabbed it with both hands to keep a check on the scoring rate. With India going at run-a-ball, Dhawan decided to up the scoring rate in the fourth over and paid for it with his wicket as an attempted hook grew big on him to take the top edge before coming to rest in the hands of Khawaja at short fine leg.

Virat Kohli arrived next and got off the mark with an outrageous flick for a four through midwicket before guiding one to the third-man boundary to take back-to-back boundaries off Hazlewood. But, India received the second blow just before the end of the powerplay as Rohit Sharma continued the routine of following his opening partner to the dressing room, this time jumping out to a straight ball from Watson to get clean bowled.

Watson struck again in the next over, this time removing Suresh Raina with the left-hander’s arch-enemy - the short delivery. Yuvraj came in next, but picked up an injury to his leg shortly and looked to be struggling with the injury as he limped his way through the innings, similar to the Indian innings at that point.

With the run rate slowly creeping above the 10-run mark, Kohli and Yuvraj went for big shots in an attempt to catch up with the run rate. Although Yuvraj connected one to send Zampa for a six, he fell in the next over to Faulkner. The left-armer’s slow ball outfoxed Yuvraj, and Watson took a brilliant catch to pocket the lob at extra cover.

Needing 67 in the last six overs, India needed a big innings from either Kohli or Dhoni to get over the ropes, and the duo kept alive India’s hopes by stealing twos and singles. Kohli brought up his fifty in the 17th over, but the Aussies kept the pressure mounting with Watson delivering tight overs.

The 18th over of the innings changed the whole equation. Kohli smashed Faulkner right, left and centre to score 19 runs off the over. Faulkner tried the slow ball, the Yorker and everything he had in his armoury to stop the mercurial batsman, but nothing worked as Kohli continued the masterclass the next over to take the match out of the Aussies hands. Needing just four in the last over, Dhoni finished it in style with a boundary to take India to semis. 

India will take on West Indies in the second semi-final at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on March 31. 

Earlier, Steve Smith won the toss and opted to make use of the wicket, with the pitch expected to slow down later in the match. Both teams decided not to make any changes for the virtual knock-out game and went into the game with their tried and tested XIs.

In front of a capacity crowd at the PCA stadium, Nehra ran in to deliver the opening ball, and Usman Khawaja dismissed it to the square leg boundary. Nehra bounced back with the perfect response by delivering five dot balls, but Bumrah from the other end was not as fortunate as his predecessor and suffered the brunt of the left-hander conceding four boundaries, a feat Bumrah achieved in the previous match against another left-hander – Tamim Iqbal.

With runs coming thick and fast, Dhoni brought in Ashwin, but it went horribly wrong for the off-spinner as Aaron Finch also joined the party with two sixes to take the score past fifty in the fourth over with Ashwin conceding 22 in the over. India needed a wicket to stop the run flow, and it came the next over as the dangerous Khawaja departed for 26 off 16 balls, going after a full delivery from Nehra only to edge it to Dhoni.

The wicket worked to India’s advantage as the run-flow dried up, and it led to another wicket as Warner jumped out of the crease for a big shot, only to see Ashwin’s ball spinning away from him to Dhoni’s gloves. The ball was precariously perched on Dhoni's gloves, but he somehow managed to hold on and whip off the bails. In the tenth over, Dhoni opted for some left-arm spin from Yuvraj, and the all-rounder delivered with his first ball, justifying his father’s rant removing the Aussies skipper. Smith walked back shaking his head after the umpire gave him out for a caught behind off Yuvraj.

However, Finch kept one end secured and took the team past hundred in the 13th over. But his attempt to hit Pandya for back-to-back boundaries led to his downfall in the last ball of the 13th over as the ball flew straight to Dhawan at deep midwicket. On the other end, Maxwell started slowly before upping the ante in the 16th over by slog sweeping Jadeja for a four before producing a stunning reverse pull over the cover boundary for a six. But, once again a wicket came at the right time for India as Bumrah outfoxed Maxwell with a slow ball to just nick the outside of the off-stump. In the last three overs, Australia added 28 runs to put 160/6 on the board, with 15 of them coming in the last over of Hardik Pandya. Peter Nevill scored a four and a six off the last two balls to give the Aussies the momentum before the second innings.

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all