Virat Kohli’s circumspect 98-ball 84 and Hardik Pandya’s 24-ball 28 propelled India to the Champions Trophy final in Dubai as Australia were beaten by four wickets in the first semi-final at the Dubai stadium on Tuesday.
Chasing a 265-run target, India completed the run-chase inside the 49th over, with 11 balls to spare. Virat Kohli once again proved his mettle with the bat, scoring 98-ball 84, laced with five boundaries.
Shreyas Iyer scored 62-ball 45, smashing three boundaries.
Earlier, India lost Gill earlier on 11-ball 8, smashing one boundary. Rohit Sharma had a good start but departed on 29-ball 28, clubbing three boundaries and one six.
Axar Patel (27) was looking with the bat, but was removed by Ellis.
KL Rahul (42) remained unbeaten and ensure India swept pass Australia.
Hardik Pandya scored an impactful 24-ball 28, laced with one boundary and three towering sixes. At one stage, Australian bowlers were looking to put pressure on the Indian batters. But Pandya spoilt Adam Zampa’s economy rate and clobbered two sixes off the latter.
Ravindra Jadeja (2) remained unbeaten.
For Australia, Nathan Ellis (2-49) and Adam Zampa (2-60) took two wickets apiece.
Cooper Connolly (1-37) and Ben Dwarshuis (1-39) took a scalp each.
Mohammed Shami (3-48) and other bowlers helped India bundle out Australia for 264 in the first semi-final of the Champions Trophy at the Dubai stadium on Tuesday.
Opting to bat first, Australia faced an early blow, when Cooper Connolly (0) made his way back to the pavilion without troubling the scorecard. But Steve Smith and Travis Head started to rebound the Australian innins.
Head was removed by Varun Chakravarthy. Smith continued to show resistance with the bat, scoring resilient 96-ball 73, lacing with four boundaries and one six.
Marnus Labuschagne (29) was removed by Ravindra Jadeja.
Alex Carey (61) looked good and smashed eight boundaries and one six before he was runout by Iyer.
Glenn Maxwell (7), Ben Dwarshuis (19), Adam Zampa (7), Nathan Ellis (10) failed to show any significant resistance with the bat.
Tanveer Sangha remained unbeaten on 1-ball 1.
For India, Mohammed Shami (3-48) bagged three wickets.
Ravindra Jadeja (2-40) and Varun Chakravarthy (2-49) took two wickets apiece.
Hardik Pandya (1-40) took a scalp.
Kuldeep Yadav (0-44) remained wicketless.
