India ‘Kohlify’ for Champions Trophy final with Australia romp

 Virat Kohli smacked a fifty after Mohammad Shami took another three-wicket haul as India avenged their 2023 World Cup final loss to send Australia packing with a four-wicket victory over Australia in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy in Dubai.

After restricting Australia to 264, India chased down the target with eleven balls to spare.

Chasing, India got off to a decent start as captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill added 30 runs for the first wicket. Rohit got off to the mark in style with a boundary, making his intention clear.

Rohit got two reprieves within two runs. He was dropped at backward point by Connolly off Ellis when on 13.

In the next over, he was dropped by Marnus Labuschagne off Ben Dwarshuis while trying to play a lofted shot when on 15.

Gill failed to repeat his feat of the first match as he was clean bowled by Dwarshuis.

Conolly, who dropped Rohit after getting out for a nought, redeemed by taking the wicket of the Indian skipper as India lost two wickets for 43.

Rohit was caught leg before but he challenged the decision which was upheld by the TV umpire as India lost their one review.

The onus of taking India through came on the shoulders of Kohli and Shreyas Iyer.

Both the batsmen discharged their duty duly as they knuckled down to mend the faltering innings.

They added 91 runs for the third wicket to keep the chase alive.

Both the batsmen played with caution and kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and couples, hitting occasional boundaries.

Australia desperately needed a wicket to break the partnership and keep their hopes alive. Zampa gave Australia a much-needed breakthrough as he dismantled the stumps of Iyer.

Axar Patel chipped in with a useful 27.  Kohli, along with Axar, took the score to 178 before Ellis removed the latter.

Kohli was waging the battle from one end and his plan was simple and clear – take the match as deep as possible.

Smith used five spinners – Zampa, Tanveer Sangha, Maxwell, Head and Connolly to exploit the help from the pitch.

 But only two of them could give him breakthroughs. Kohli reached his fifty in 53 balls. Soon after reaching the fifty, he got a reprieve as he was dropped by Maxwell.

He added another 33 runs to his total after being dropped and shared a 47-run stand with KL Rahul to bring the equation down to 40 needed off 44 balls.

Kohli holed out to Dwarshuis at the long-on but the damage was done by the time.

Rahul scored a watchful 34-ball 42 to keep the Australian bowlers at bay.

Rahul and Pandya made no mistake and took India within sniffing distance of victory before the latter became a victim of Ellis, who was the most successful Australian bowler with a figure of 2/49.

Earlier, India decided to stick to the same playing eleven which they fielded in the previous match against New Zealand as they did not want to disturb the winning combination.

They played with four spinners and Hardik Pandya was handed the responsibility of being Mohammad Shami’s pace partner.

Indian spinners had wreaked havoc against New Zealand as they took nine wickets.

But it was pace spearhead Mohammad Shami, who stole the show with a three-wicket haul. He gave India an ideal start by sending back Cooper Connolly for a duck.

Connolly tried to play a square cut outside the off stump. The ball took the inner edge and landed in the hands of Rahul as Australia lost their first wicket with just four runs on the board.

Travis Head and Steven Smith shared a 50-run partnership for the second wicket to take the score past 50. They did not allow the Indian bowlers to capitalise on the early dismissal.

The dismissal of Connolly had put Australia on the back foot as the flow of runs had almost choked. They were reeling at 14/1 in five overs. Head hit Shami for three consecutive boundaries to fend off the pressure.

Head took the charge in his hands as he did most of the scoring.

In the fifty-run partnership, 39 came from Head’s bat. India desperately needed to break the partnership as Head was in a devastating mood.

Australia were cruising nicely but Head tried to loft Varun over the top and did not get hold of the shot as Gill took a running catch to send him back to the pavilion. Australia were 63/1 at the end of the first powerplay.

Marnus Labuschagne and Smith added another 56 for the fourth wicket to bring the innings back on track as Australia looked set for a big total.

Jadeja trapped Labuschagne in front of the wicket to break the partnership as Australia were reduced to 110/3. On the other end, Smith was holding the fort single-handedly. He reached his fifty in 68 balls.

After the departure of Labuschagne, Australia kept on losing the wickets at regular intervals as John Inglis became the second victim of Jadeja.

Smith was waging the lone battle and India needed to get rid of him if they had to thwart Australia to an achievable total.

 Shami did the trick for India again as he rattled the stumps of Smith for his second scalp of the day.

Axar Patel uprooted the stumps of dangerman Glenn Maxwell within seven runs to leave Australia tottering at 205/6. Ben Dwarshuis holed out to Iyer to give Varun his second wicket of the match.

The danger of getting all out was looming large and Australia needed to play out full overs to reach a fighting total. Alex Carey completed his fifty in 48 balls with the help of seven boundaries and one six.

Carey was found short of his ground while scrambling for a second run which never existed. He worked the ball down the leg with loose hands and tried to collect the second run to retain the strike but Iyer dislodged the bails with a direct throw.

Shami got rid of Nathan Ellis before Pandya clean bowled Zampa as Australia could manage to muster 264.