India, after a stupendous batting effort from Virat Kohli, defeated Australia in a must-win encounter by six wickets at the PCA Stadium in Mohali, Sunday. India chased down Australia's score of 160 runs with five balls to spare to reach the semifinals of the World T20.
Kohli, with a match-winning knock of 82 runs from 51 balls, proved he is one of the best batsmen at present in world cricket, and in fact the best run chaser of all time. Likewise, Kohli had also played an important role with the bat against Pakistan, which helped India emerge victorious.
The right-hander once again rescued India as the home team were tottering at 49 for three wickets, chasing 161 runs to win. Kohli did not take on the Aussie bowlers early on, but were only looking for singles and twos with Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan back in the dugout. Kohli could not convert ones into twos when Yuvraj was at the batting crease as the left-hander was injured while batting.
However, when Dhoni came after the dismissal of Yuvraj, the India skipper and his deputy ran beautifully between the wickets to inch closer to the total.
Kohli only began to take on the Aussie bowlers in the last three overs when India required 39 runs from 18 balls. It was an uphill task but India scored 19 runs in the 18th over, which gave the Men in Blue huge hope as they required 20 runs from 2 overs, which was not difficult with the duo at the crease.
The game was more or less sealed in the 19th over for India with Kohli smacking four boundaries, and Dhoni finished off the match with a four in the first ball of the 20th over.
Earlier, Australia, who had won the toss, batted strongly during the powerplays, scoring 59 runs for the loss of one wicket. Usman Khawaja scored 16-ball 26 to provide a perfect base for other batsmen to follow, but rest of their batsmen could not impress with the bat as the left-hander did.
However, his opening partner, Aaron Finch contributed with the bat, scoring 43 runs. Maxwell also did his bit with 31 runs against his name but he could not spray his batting magic against India in Mohali as the ball was not coming onto the bat. Hardik Pandya was the highest-wicket taker for India with two wickets against his name.
Though Australia's score of 160 runs looked decent, India, especially Kohli batted beautifully to seal the semifinals berth. With this victory, India are set to face West Indies in the World T20 semifinals.
