India’s third consecutive Champions Trophy final is led by Kohli

India steamrolled Australia which made their path into the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy for the third consecutive time. Virat Kohli calmly guided the chase in his signature way as he now has over 8000 runs while chasing in ODIs. The Indian team was consistent and balanced as they performed exceedingly well both with the ball and the bat. For more Information About Cricket Update; Click Here

Kohli, just like many other players on the team, faced some challenges while trying to guide the Indian team towards their target. He got to bat early as Shubman Gill got out in the fifth over while taking things slow. However, Rohit Sharma put his foot on the gas and was dominating after getting dropped two times. During the power play, his aggressive nature helped him make 28 runs in 29 balls before he was LBW. India was not in a solid position at 43/2 in eight overs and Kohli performed exceedingly well to guide the team safely past this landmark. Kohli and his partner, Shreyas Iyer, ensured that they do not get too many difficulties and he managed to torch defenders and pull risk like him. In addition, he also set a stunning baseline to aid in future attacks with his 91-run lead helping alongside the team’s confidence.

Kohli reached his 74th fifty and was dismissed soon after. Connolly led to a top edge which almost got caught by Glenn Maxwell, but he could not make the catch. Iyer used to be very compact until he was defeated by Zampa’s slider at 45. Kohli found another capable partner in Axar Patel, who hit a slog-swept six off Tanveer Sangha. The two put on a partnership for 44 runs that got India closer to winning the match and also made sure that the run-rate stayed constant.

Even with Australia’s slow pace, they were able to drag the game deep using regular strikes. Axar was subsequently bowled by Nathan Ellis with a moderately short delivery that skidded in on the offstump. Kohli was managing one end capably as Axar was assisted by KL Rahul, who stepped in next, getting into a similar template. India required 65 runs with ten overs to go and six wickets remaining. Rahul hit a couple of boundaries in the following overs to keep them under pressure. He also hit a loft off Adam Zampa, increasing the lead even more. However, in the same over, Kohli, without behaving characteristically, tried to loft off Zampa but ended up getting caught at long on. Australia still had a chance to get back into the game since there was a run-a-ball left and a whole lot of time.

With India rapidly gaining height, Hardik Pandya kicked things forward by picking sixes against the leg mounts: he hit three of them. Pandya’s 24-bal

We still haven’t played the perfect game – Gambhir

Lacked a couple of partnerships to drag total to 300 – Smith

This caps off a rather methodical showing with the ball where Australia was capped at a mediocre score of 264 after being put to bat. India came with the same eleven from the last match and thus had four frontline spinners on the team. With a new Australian batting order that was looking to counter-punch, these bowlers were not able to dominate as they did in the last game. Still, their impact was felt. Varun Chakravarthy was the first Indian bowler and he made an immediate impact by dismissing Travis Head on his very first ball. Head’s 33 all withstanding, he had a rather tough time initially. During the first 11 balls he batted, he was only able to score a single run. Shami’s round-the-wicket approach to both openers did pose some problems straight away. Shami also dropped a leading edge from Head that should have been easily caught. Nonetheless, the pacer bested Connolly and after beating his outside edge repeatedly, managed to get him to edge the ball for an effortlessly taken catch after he had faced a paltry 9 balls.

As was the case with the rest of the Australian batting order, Head’s acceleration was also clipped at the session break. However, that did not prevent the Indian seamers from dominating the proceedings until Steven Smith joined the fray. Smith, the Australian captain, appeared the most comfortable of all batters, and enjoyed himself premeditating a lofted boundary off Axar Patel when he bowled the first over. He got a little fortunate a couple of times when the bail did not come off after an inside edge off Patel hit the stumps, and then Shami failing to convert a more difficult return catch. In the meanwhile, India managed to contain the Smith-Labuschagne partnership for 50 balls, during which the innings were devoid of runs, until Labuschagne set the record straight with his late cut. To upset the left-arm finger spinners rhythm further, Labuschagne also attempted the slogsweep. However, just like Labuschagne’s innings, Jadeja’s plumb in front decision that got him out ended a 56-run partnership. At the same time, Smith scored his fifth fifty in 7 ICC ODI knockout games after 66 balls when he scored and as expected, he batted exceptionally well, anchoring the innings. Opposite to that though, Josh Inglis only furthered the increasing trend of disintegrating assistance by lobbing a straightforward catch to cover off just 11.

The inclusion of Alex Carey further propelled the scoring. His partnership of 54 runs with Smith during the middle overs came close to a run for every ball as the spinners suffered the most. A partnership that propelled Australia for the rest of the innings was spear-headed by Carey who single handedly dominated the rest of the innings. Smith’s stay was ended when he tried to leap out against Shami and full-tossed a ball with 73 on the board and Australia was further hindered with Maxwell’s wicket falling to Axar right after he got a boundary. From that point on Carey put on a clinic with the bat demolishing untouchable Kuldeep Yadav for runs. It was the 48 ball fifty that did it, and with the rest of his innings, gave no chance to Kuldeep Yadav to have any influence on the game.Carey’s attempt for a hefty finish was cut short however when he attempted a second run that was met by a precise rocket throw from Shreyas Iyer. With Carey going out for 264 and becoming Australia’s 8th wicket right before three overs were left, they were robbed from late surge and were bowled out for 264 in the final over.

Brief Scores: Australia 264 all out in 49.3 ov (Steven Smith 73, Alex Carey 61; Mohammed Shami 3-48) lost to India 267/6 (Virat Kohli 84, Shreyas Iyer 45, KL Rahul 42*) by 4 wickets