Champions Trophy: Kohli’s 84 powers India to third successive final with 4-wkt win over Australia
Dubai, March 4 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Virat Kohli’s 84, supported by K.L. Rahul’s unbeaten 42 and Hardik Pandya’s 28-run cameo helped India to a four-wicket win against Australia in the first semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Stadium here on Tuesday.
With this win, India became the first team to qualify for the Champions Trophy final for a third consecutive time. They will now take on the winner of the second semifinal between South Africa and New Zealand in Dubai on March 9. With this win, India also exacted revenge on Australia, whom they had lost in the final of the ODI World Cup in 2023.
Chasing 265, skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill stitched a brief 30-run partnership, with the former playing the role of an aggressor before Ben Dwarshuis cleaned up the latter for 8 in the fifth over. Rohit’s knock of 28, which included three fours and a six, was ended by Cooper Connolly in the eighth over. The spinner trapped the Indian captain in front of the stumps to bag a second dismissal for the side in the power-play.
Kohli and Shreyas Iyer then stitched a crucial 91-run partnership for the third wicket to set the foundation for the run chase. Adam Zampa broke the stand with the wicket of Iyer for 45 in the 27th over. Meanwhile, Kohli went on to amass his 74th ODI half-century and also became the highest run-scorer for India in Champions Trophy history, surpassing Shikhar Dhawan’s tally of 701 runs in 10 games from 2013 to 2017.
Kohli was then involved in two more partnerships — with Axar Patel and Rahul — to take India closer to the target. He was finally dismissed by Zampa in the 43rd over, giving an outside chance for Australia to make a comeback, but Pandya and Rahul made sure to kill that opportunity for the opponents with a 34-run stand off 31 balls.
Pandya hammered two massive sixes off Zampa and a four against Ellis before losing his wicket to the latter in the 48th over. Rahul hit the finishing runs as he smacked six off Glenn Maxwell to take India home with 11 balls to spare.
Earlier, despite half-centuries by captain Steve Smith and Alex Carey, disciplined bowling by India prevented the ODI World Champions from reaching the 300-run mark. The first power-play saw movement from both Indian pacers Shami and Hardik Pandya as India got an early chance to celebrate in the match, but Shami dropped Travis Head on duck on the second ball of the innings.
Shami, in his second over, bagged Cooper Connolly for a nine-ball duck to draw first blood. A thin outside edge off Connolly’s bat was caught by KL Rahul behind the stumps.
In the next over, Head struck Pandya for four and a six to stamp his presence in the middle. After clearing mid-off for a boundary, Head improved on it with a powerful flick over deep square leg for a maximum. Head continued his attack against Shami and hammered him for a hat-trick of boundaries to accumulate 14 from the over.
With the pacers leaking runs, Rohit Sharma brought Kuldeep Yadav into the attack, and he kept it tight against Head and Steve Smith.
In search of a wicket, Rohit introduced Varun Chakaravarthy in the ninth over. The right-arm leg break did exactly what was expected from him – dismissing Head for 39, who struck five fours and two sixes. Vice-captain Shubman Gill took a brilliant catch at long-off to hand India their second wicket of the match. Marnus Labuschagne joined Smith in the middle, and the duo tackled the Indian spinners well and kept the scoreboard ticking at a decent pace. In the 14th over, Smith survived after Axar’s ball hit the stumps, but the bail didn’t dislodge.
Smith and Labuschagne stitched a 56-run stand to take the total to the three-figure mark. Jadeja broke the partnership with the dismissal of Labuschagne (29), who was trapped in front of the wickets for lbw in the 23rd over.
Meanwhile, Smith completed his half-century off 68 balls, his 35th in the ODIs. Just after scoring fifty, Smith charged Jadeja over long-off to smash the first six of his innings. In the same over, Jadeja picked up Josh Inglis (11) to break the partnership and leave Australia at 144/4 after 27 overs.
Shami’s return to attack gave India a moment to celebrate as the veteran pacer dismissed Smith for 73. The Australian skipper was involved in three 50-partnerships with Head, Labuschagne, and Alex Carey. However, Glenn Maxwell failed to live up to the billing and was bowled out by Axar for 7 in the 38th over.
Carey played a steady knock in the end and completed his half-century off 48 balls and built a 34-run partnership with Ben Dwarshuis for the seventh wicket before Chakaravarthy sent the latter back to the pavilion in the 46th over. Chakaravarthy ended his 10 overs with the figures of 2-49, including the crucial scalp of Head. Shreyas Iyer’s razor-sharp direct hit from the outfield ended Carey’s stay in the middle after scoring 61, including eight fours and a six.
Shami got hold of Nathan Ellis (10) in the penultimate over before Pandya bagged his first scalp of the match with the dismissal of Adam Zampa (7) to bowl out Australia for 264 with three balls to spare in the innings.
Brief scores:
Australia 264 all out in 49.3 overs (Steve Smith 73, Alex Carey 61; Ravindra Jadeja 2-40, Mohammed Shami 3-48, Varun Chakaravarthy 2-49) lost to India 267/6 in 48.1 overs (Virat Kohli 84, Shreyas Iyer 45; Nathan Ellis 2-49, Adam Zampa 2-60) by four wickets.
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