A measured 84 from Virat Kohli has led India to a six-wicket victory over Australia in a tense Champions Trophy semi-final, with a tournament-long woe coming back to haunt the Aussies.
In friendly batting conditions in Dubai, the controversial home of India’s tournament after boycotting its initial host nation of Pakistan, a valiant performance from the reigning World Cup champions was stymied by an uneven batting performance in scoring 264 after Steve Smith won the toss and batted first, and the inability of an inexperienced attack to take regular wickets at key intervals.
While India were consistently able to find breakthroughs – the turning point of the match the dismissals of Smith (bowled by Mohammed Shami for 73) and Glenn Maxwell (castled for 7 by Axar Patel) within six balls in the 36th and 37th overs – Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa and Tanveer Sangha were never able to do likewise.
Brought in for his first match of the tournament in spin-friendly conditions, young leg-spinner Sangha was unthreatening, leaking 41 runs from his six overs
His inclusion at the expense of Spencer Johnson for the must-win match worked just as well as Cooper Connolly’s shock call-up to replace the injured Matt Short as opener, dismissed for a ghastly nine-ball duck that included six consecutive plays and misses off Shami only partially made up for by a tight eight-over spell with the ball that included the key wicket of Rohit Sharma.
While Ellis and Dwarshuis were gallant and Zampa excellent, the absence of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood for this tournament was glaring in defence of a total that looked 30 runs under par.
A trio of dropped catches didn’t help – a simple one from Connolly at point to spare Sharma in the second over, and far tougher later opportunities from Marnus Labuschagne and Maxwell to give Sharma again and Kohli lives – and nor did the inability of set batters to convert from starts.
Travis Head, a long-term destroyer of India, had a destructive early cameo ended on 39 after trying to thump his first ball off mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, while Smith missed a Shami full toss and Alex Carey, Australia’s most assured batter with a dazzling run-a-ball 61, ran himself out with three overs to go after taking on the arm of Shreyas Iyer.
With India needing 27 from the final four overs, faint hope still remained: but a pair of emphatic straight sixes from all-rounder Hardik Pandya off Zampa ended the contest in a stroke.
While he’d be dismissed an over later trying to do the same to Ellis, the back of the chase had at last been broken, with KL Rahul (42 not out off 34 balls) capping a fine cameo performance with a thunderous strike over Maxwell’s head to begin the 49th over.
It meant a meek ending to a bizarre tournament for Australia, who began with a Josh Inglis-inspired heist in a hefty run chase against India before a total washout against South Africa and a second-innings match abandonment against Afghanistan.
However, despite the result, acting captain Smith praised his team’s efforts throughout the tournament, making particular mention of his undermanned bowling attack.
“I thought the bowlers did a really good job,” he said following the match.
“They worked hard throughout, our spinners squeezed and enabled us to take the game a bit deeper than it could have gone.
“I thought everyone did a really good job tonight… the bowling attack was quite inexperienced – I thought they did a wonderful job throughout [the tournament].
For Smith, key to Australia’s loss was the inability to forge crucial partnerships on a pitch he said ‘was’t the easiest’.
“I thought we probably could have put a few more on – we lost a couple of wickets at crucial times,” he said.
“If we got 280-plus, things could have been different… it always felt like we were one wicket too many down at each stage of the game.
“If we were able to drag one of those partnerships out, that’s probably where we get to 280, and there’s probably a bit more pressure on the game
“There were glimpses tonight of some really good stuff as well – some really good cricketers in that change room, and they’re going to continue to get bigger and better.”
India will once again be advantaged by their standing as world cricket’s most powerful team in Sunday night’s (AEDT) final, with one of New Zealand or South Africa required to travel to Dubai from Pakistan to face them.
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