By Admin 
There was no forever delay in the gladdening of Virat Kohli, just seconds after K.L. Rahul became a hero for Indian cricket by cranking Glenn Maxwell over long-on for a six to make the victory all his. After Hardik Pandya’s frantic six on Zampa consecutively in the 47th over, Kohli just could not stop smiling.
He whooped at the top of his voice as he dashed down the stairway at the Dubai International Stadium leading to the dressing room, pumping his fist along with his teammates.
As Rohit Sharma walked in, Kohli gave the India skipper a huge hug, reminiscent of the team’s win at the T20 World Cup in Bridgetown in June.
Two years in a row, India reached the finals of the ICC tournament, the last time against Australia, whom India defeated by four wickets with eleven balls to spare. To addicing to the cake, this time it was India’s greatest enemy, Travis Head, who bit the dust. On Sunday, India will face the winners of the South Africa-New Zealand match in the big final.
India vs Australia:
Bathed in the overflowing emotions that day, it was not just the glorious achievement of reaching the semifinal that mattered. This monumental triumph was accompanied by a special feeling against a side that has become etching its name in ICC tournaments.
After suffering the ignominy of losing a World Test Championship final at The Oval, having given up the World Cup final at home, and being recently shamed in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under, there was a lot that was on the plate to fight for against Australia in a knockout encounter on Tuesday.
He had said at the toss he was uncertain about what he wanted to do, and he almost seemed relieved that he wasn’t the one who had to make the call. The target was tough on a slow wicket at 265, but the Indians perfectly retained their template.
Once again, the India captain opened up with hyper-aggression against an Australian attack without Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, and Josh Hazlewood. Once Rohit was gone, Kohli and Shreyas Iyer gave great direction to the innings by being composed and sensible during the course of their 91-run partnership.
Smith had packed the XI with six spinners, but Kohli knows a few tricks against them. Adaaaah, a master chaser, Kohli batted with intent and timing for 84 runs off 98 deliveries. Five boundaries in his innings speak of his temperament and application.
“The timing, I guess. At the crease, I wasn’t feeling desperate. I was quite happy knocking ones around. When you take pride in putting the odd single into gaps, then you know you’re playing good cricket,” Kohli said of his innings.
The pathway did look a little threatening towards the close after Kohli’s dismissal, with 27 needed in the last four overs. Rahul was calm through his innings of 42 off 24 balls, while Pandya showed a lot of guts in taking it away from the Aussies.
Whenever an individual speaks regarding cricket, such person is termed a ‘cricket pundit’. Kohli described it all: This game is all about pressure, especially to high games like semi-finals and finals. When you go deep into the innings and have even a few wickets with you, at that point of time opposition usually folds in, and the match becomes a cakewalk for you. “It needs a whole lot of restraint during the passage of play,” said Kohli.
Everything went according to plan for India. They also conquered their demon, the Head, at the perfect time. Head had not faced Varun Chakravarthy in IPL 2024, and his very first encounter with the mystery spinner went the spinner’s way, with the left-hander being out first ball. Rohit had saved Varun for a little while, but when Head threatened a riot, he brought him.
It had enough spin to break the head’s easy swing of the bat, and the way the Indians celebrated seemed as though they had closed the door in the face of Australia. Varun had come round the wicket and touched the lower part of the bat while Head charged down the ground. Head’s cameo ran the risk of ruining India’s plans by raining five boundaries and two sixes in quick succession.
Right now all was about the new bone-dry wicket expected to favor the four spinners for India; however, except for Varun, none completed their overs. Smith scored 73 runs off 96 balls, while Alex Carey scored 61 runs off 57 balls, milking the spinners by finding the gaps.
But the class and talent of Mohammed Shami were evident on the big day. His acts in the 2023 World Cup went a long way, as much of it helped their unbeaten run in the final, and on Tuesday, he demonstrated how long layoffs and Dubai underwent some impact on his skills or not.
With the new white ball having just that much seam movement and then messing with the batsmen by changing speeds and toe-crushing yorkers at the death, the three wickets proved ample proof of his ability and discipline throughout.
His precision had made his effect in the last 10 overs of the Australia run rate; 51 runs came at the cost of 4 wickets. It really turned comebacks in the match.