Virat Kohli hit a sparkling fifty and got a partnership of 56 with Yuvraj Singh to give India a six-wicket win against South Africa in the second semi-final of the World T20 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur.
Openers Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane provided an explosive start, but left early. The two showed their intent early on and took on the Proteas bowlers. Their 39-run partnership came off 23 balls.
Rohit raced to his 24 in 13 balls with four fours and a six. He fell finally when he tried to hit Beuran Hendricks down the ground, but it went straight up.
Ajinkya Rahane (32) kept the momentum going, but the run rate came down a bit. Rahane fell in the tenth over to Wayne Parnell. He tried to give the charge, swung at the bouncer, got a top edge and was caught at deep midwicket.
At this point, Kohli (72*) and Yuvraj (18) came together. They played sensible cricket, hitting the occasional big shots and keeping the strike rotating. The required run rate slowly inched up.
Yuvraj left in the 16th over when he tried to hit Imran Tahir down the ground. He couldn't get the elevation and was caught out at long-off. The required run rate at that point was 10 per over.
The next over changed all that. Suresh Raina (21) got stuck into Wane Parnell and took him for 17 in an over. The match turned on its head.
Raina tried to clear mid-off in the next over and got caught out instead. But he had done his job. The match was in India's kitty.
MS Dhoni came out to finish things off. With two runs remaining, Virat took a single, tying the scores. Ever the gentleman, Dhoni refused to take a run, allowing Virat to finish things off, which he did with a boundary.
In the earlier innings, South Africa captain Faf du Plesis hit a quick fifty and stitched up a 71-run partnership with JP Duminy to steer South Africa to 172 for four in 20 overs.
Now India meet on Sunday's final against Sri Lanka.
Brief Scores:
- South Africa: 172/4 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 58, JP Duminy not out 45; R Ashwin 3/22).
- India: 176 for 4 in 19.1 overs (Virat Kohli 72 not out, Ajinkya Rahane 32; Beuran Hendricks 2/31).
No comments:
Post a Comment