Kohli leads India to Champions Trophy final with victory over Australia
India needed to reach 265 to win but lost their veteran Kohli in the last phase of the game yet KL Rahul's unbeaten 42 runs guided them to victory with 11 balls remaining at the Dubai International Stadium.
India will battle either South Africa or New Zealand in Dubai Sunday for the final since they chose to play all their matches at the same location after declining to tour Pakistan for the eight-nation tournament.
Lahore stood as the backup venue for the final if India had been eliminated from contention. Player of the match Kohli explained that pressure determines the outcome of significant games like semi-finals and finals.
When you push deep into the innings with sufficient wickets remaining your opponents start to fall apart which makes the match less challenging. Controlling your impulses during the game remains a crucial aspect of gameplay.
The Australian team decided to bat first and achieved 264 runs before getting all out despite captain Steve Smith and Alex Carey delivering impressive scores of 73 and 61 respectively.
India fell behind early with two wickets lost but Kohli joined Shreyas Iyer who scored 45 to guide the match back on course with their 91-run partnership.
Kohli asserted that he takes pride in executing his team's desires as the 36-year-old player. Individual records no longer hold any significance for me. Stepping out is all that matters to me at this point because I want to fulfill my team's expectations.
Smith said of Kohli: Many consider Kohli the greatest run-chaser to ever play the game. He's done it numerous times against us. He demonstrates excellent control over the game's tempo while maximizing his strengths and pushing the match into an extended play.
Cooper Connolly stepped into the team for injured Matthew Short and claimed his first ODI wicket by trapping Rohit Sharma lbw on 28.
Kohli and Iyer faced the inexperienced Australian attack that lacked fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood due to injuries and Mitchell Starc who withdrew for personal reasons.
Adam Zampa dismissed Iyer with his leg-spin before Nathan Ellis succeeded in removing Axar Patel for 27 runs.
Maxwell drops Kohli
After his unbeaten 100 against Pakistan during the group stage, Kohli maintained his position during another innings partnership with Rahul.
Glenn Maxwell dropped Kohli off Connolly while he was on 51 runs but Zampa prevented another century when Kohli hit a googly to Ben Dwarshuis at long-on which left India trailing at 225-5 and provided Australia with renewed hope.
The situation relaxed when Rahul and Hardik Pandya combined for a 34 run partnership as Hardik hit three sixes in his 28 runs from 31 balls. While Ellis dismissed Pandya with a catch at long-on Pandya made way for Rahul who hit the winning six which set off a roar from the mostly Indian crowd.
Smith praised the bowlers, saying they performed really well. The spinners worked hard throughout to restrict India which helped our team progress further than we might have otherwise.
Australia lost wickets frequently but managed to recover by building 50-plus partnerships between Smith and Marnus Labuschagne who scored 29 before partnering with the captain and Carey.
Mohammed Shami proved dominant for India with bowling figures of 3-48 during Australia's 49.3-over innings. Both Varun Chakravarthy and Ravindra Jadeja claimed two wickets each.
Australia got an early advantage thanks to Travis Head's 39 runs after losing Connolly who departed for a nine-ball duck. India slowly chased down the target and avenged their loss against Australia from the 2023 World Cup final held in Ahmedabad.
Lahore will host the South Africa versus New Zealand second semi-final match on Wednesday.
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