India enter semifinals with emphatic 6-wicket victory
agencies
Mohali, March 27: If the history of the 2016 edition of the T20 World Cup is ever written the chapter on Indian achievements should have a heading ‘Where there is a Virat, there is a way’. The champion batsman conjured up a win for the hosts with a brilliant knock that would have even made that Australian legend, Sir Donald Bradman feel proud.
Virat Kohli (82 n o, 51b, 9×4, 2×6) saw to it that India’s hopes remain afloat in the T20 World Cup with a masterful knock which helped the hosts enter the semifinals with a six-wicket win over Australia at the PCA Stadium here Sunday. But forget the statistics, it was Kohli’s sheer ability to pull the team out of trouble single-handedly that will be written in letters of gold. For the records, India chasing a victory target of 161 after Australia had posted 160 for six coasted home with five balls to spare.
Earlier in the day, both Zaheer Khan and Shane Warne while commenting on the game had categorically stated about the Kohli ‘factor’. That came true as Kohli grew ‘Virat’ on the opposition with each ball of the Indian innings. He was on 36 from 32 balls at the end of the 14th over and suddenly out of nowhere he got 46 runs from the next 20 to see India home safely.
At the end of 17th over, India on 122 for four looked a little unstable as the stats read 39 off 18. But Kohli had other ideas. In the 18th over James Faulkner went for 18 with Kohli hitting the bowler for two boundaries and a six. The next over from Nathan Coulter-Nile fetched 16, all the four boundaries coming off Kohli’s blade, the standout being a lofted extra-cover drive. It was batsmanship at its highest. Rightly so, Kohli was the man beaming and standing after the ‘shootout at Mohali’.
But credit also goes to Indian bowlers after Australia rocketed away to 53 in the first four overs. Ashish Nehra (1/20), Yuvraj Singh (1/19) and Hardik Pandya (2/36) paid their part to perfection as the Aussie batters found bowling a bit difficult to score consistently.
Meanwhile, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Congratulated the winning team for its performance.
