India Champions Trophy final by equalizing Australia with Kohli’s charisma. Image: AP
Sixteen months ago, in the ODI World Cup final and for fourteen years, India, while avenging every defeat in the knockout matches of ICC tournaments, defeated Australia by four wickets on Tuesday to enter the Champions Trophy final for the fifth time and once again Virat Kohli was the hero of victory. With India’s victory, it was also decided that the final of the Champions Trophy will be played in Dubai on March 9, in which India will face South Africa or New Zealand. If Australia had won, the final was to be played in Lahore.
Australia batted first and 48 on the basis of half -centuries of Steve Smith (73) and Alex Carrie (61). He scored 264 runs in 1 over, in response to which India achieved the target with 11 balls left. ‘Player of the Match’ Kohli scored 84 runs in 98 balls with the help of five fours. On 19 November 2023, crores of cricket lovers, including captain Rohit Sharma, had tears in their eyes when the Australian team broke India’s dream of winning the World Cup in Ahmedabad. Apart from this, Australia has proved to be a ‘impenetrable fort’ for India in the ICC knockout tournaments, in which we were able to make a dent in the 2011 ODI World Cup. Every wound received from all those failures was healing when KL Rahul won India by hitting Glenn Maxwell on the first ball of the 49th over.
Kohli shared a 45 -run partnership with Iyer
Kohli got full support from Shreyas Iyer, who scored 45 runs and also shared a 91 -run partnership for the third wicket. Earlier, captain Rohit Sharma (28) and Shubman Gill (nine) were dismissed cheaply. Kohli’s bat went on a batting helpful pitch and instead of playing big shots, he carried his innings forward with restraint. Kohli, who failed to fail against the spinners in the ODI innings in the last few years, played Australia’s spinner Adam Jampa here. He installed brilliant pools and drives in his innings.
Kohli’s half -century, Rahul remembers Dhoni by finishing a brilliant finish
Iyer and Akshar Patel (27) lost one wicket after another but Kohli completed his half -century in 53 balls. He also got a life from Maxwell off Spinner Cooper Konoli when he was score 51 runs, but he was caught out by a catching Ben Davarsuusus near Long On’s ball off Jampa when India needed 40 runs. Rahul (42 not out) and Hardik Pandya (28) played aggressive shots and brought India to victory. By the way, Indian bowlers are also credit in this victory. In this match, KL Rahul finished the match by hitting a brilliant six and reminiscent of former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Disciplined performance of Indian bowlers, Australia killed 264 runs
Australian captain Smith won the toss and scored 73 runs in 96 balls with the help of four fours and a six. However, the batsmen could not take much advantage of the favorable pitch and lost wickets by playing irresponsible shots. Smith was the architect of the Australian innings who had three half -century partnerships. He added 52 runs for the second wicket with Travis Head, 56 for the third wicket with Marnas Labushen and 54 for the fifth wicket with Carrie. Carrie scored 61 off 57 balls which included eight fours and a six.
Head had not got the benefit
Australia’s score would have been better if both of them would have played for some time. Often, the head, which proved to be a headache for the Indian team, got many life donations which they could not take advantage of and returned by scoring 39 runs. On the very first ball of the match, Mohammed Shami left his return catch, then he survived the run out and twice the ball was left by a slight margin of touching the stump. Head made some scenic shots which included Hardik Pandya hit six and Shami had three consecutive fours. It also helped Australia to overcome early shaking.
Australia started bad
Cooper Konoli, who started the innings with the head, was dismissed early. Konoli got a place in the team due to Matthew Short injury. In the last match, spinner Varun Chakraborty, who took five wickets against New Zealand, sent the head to whom Gill caught caught in Deep. Labushen was lbw by Ravindra Jadeja. At the same time, Josh Ilynis caught Virat Kohli in the short covers off Jadeja.
Steve Smith played a brilliant innings in the role of anchor
Smith continued to score runs from the other end and hit Jadeja a six in the straight. She missed Shami’s full -ridden ball and the ball went to her stumps. When Glenn Maxwell came to the crease, there were 13 overs left and Australia’s score was 198 runs for five wickets. He had this golden opportunity but he left without reaching the double digit by being dismissed by Akshar Patel. Carrie added 34 runs for the seventh wicket with Darashuis to cross 250 for Australia. He was run out on Iyer’s exact throw in an attempt to take a second run.
