India advanced to their third consecutive ICC tournament final on the back of a masterful knock by Virat Kohli. Ably supported by Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Hardik Pandya, Kohli anchored the chase of a par target of 265 set by Australia—an effort that proved insufficient against the batting might of the Men in Blue.
Australia surprised many by electing to bat first on winning the toss, a decision that raised eyebrows given India’s formidable chasing prowess and their inexperienced bowling attack. To stand a chance, Australia needed a score well above par, and while they seemed poised for it at 194/4 after 34 overs, they failed to capitalize on a strong platform.
Travis Head, as always, threatened to disrupt India’s plans, but his aggressive intentions proved costly as he perished for 39 while attempting to hit Varun Chakravarthy’s very first ball out of the park. Steve Smith, the backbone of Australia’s innings, fought hard but struggled to accelerate, eventually falling for a labored 73 off 96 balls. It was Alex Carey’s breezy 61 off 57 that ensured Australia reached a respectable 264.
India’s reply began in typical fashion, with skipper Rohit Sharma taking on the bowlers from the outset. However, both openers departed in quick succession, leaving India at a slightly precarious position of 43/2. Enter Shreyas Iyer, who joined forces with Kohli to stabilize the innings with a crucial 91-run partnership. Kohli’s poise and precision were on full display as he rotated the strike effortlessly, reaffirming his status as one of the greatest chasers in ODI history.
After Shreyas’s dismissal, Kohli built valuable partnerships with Axar Patel and KL Rahul, steering India closer to victory. By the time he got out India were in touching distance of the target needed only 40 of 44 balls.
Kohli got out to a very uncharacteristic shot when he tried to launch Zampa towards wide of long on and got caught. It was a strange choice of shot as Rahul had already hit a six in that over and Kohli had to just keep rotating the strike, as he was doing, while Rahul was taking care of the asking rate. I think he expected the googly of Zampa to turn a bit more and was expecting the ball to go further away from long on towards cow corner but that is the risk you take when you hit the ball in the air and he was playing risk free until that time.
Australia had an opporunity when Maxwell dropped Kohli when he was at 51. It was a difficult chance but you expect Maxwell to take that.To be fair to Maxwell, Cooper Connolly got in the way a bit as the ball went in between these two and Connolly decided to back off at the last moment.
It got a but tense as Hardik Pandya appears to be taking a bit easy and started chewing up balls. He was 12 of 18 balls before launching Zampa for 2 consecutive sixes to kill the game. He eventually got out trying to hit another six to finish off the game but got caught at long-on. Rahul did what Hardik was trying to do which is to finish the game in style with a huge six.
Unsurprisingly, Kohli was named Player of the Match, earning his 15th such award in ICC tournaments for his pivotal knock.
India now looks ahead to the final on Sunday, 9th March. They will be favourites to win their 2nd ICC tournament of the year.`
