Mirpur: Virat Kohli can do no wrong at the moment. The Indian vice-captain once again showed his mettle as he went on to play yet another scintillating innings (72 off 44 balls) that helped India beat South Africa by six wickets in the semi-final of ICC World T20 trophy here on Friday.
Chasing a 173 to win, India reached the target with five balls remaining. Now, India will take on Sri Lanka in the title clash on Sunday.
Kohli played gem of an innings when it mattered the most and went on to make 72 runs with the help of five fours and two sixes. Suresh Raina too played an important cameo as his 21 off nine balls took the match away from the Proteas’ reach towards the end of India’s innings.
Needing 51 off the last five overs, Kohli took the attack back to the opposition s he hit Imran Tahir over deep mid-wicket for a huge six to complete his 50 off 35 balls. And after India lost Yuvraj, Raina got into the act immediately as he pulled Wayne Parnell behind deep fine leg for a six. Parnell over cost SA 17 runs and that proved to be the turning point as India got the equation down to 23 from three overs.
Earlier, India started their chase in a style as Rohit Shaarma and Ajinkya Rahane added 39 runs in 3.9 overs before Rohit offered a skier off Hendricks and Faf Du Plessis ran from his mid-off position to take well-judged catch. Rohit's 24 came off 13 balls with four boundaries and six.
India’s 50 came off five overs. However Rahane was caught by de Villiers at for 32 and Kohli was joined by Yuvraj Singh in the middle. India’s 100 came up in the 13th over.
Earlier, Du Plessis hit a fantastic half-century as South Africa posted a challenging total of 172. Jean-Paul Duminy's 40-ball 45 was another highlight of the SA innings.
Ravichandran Ashwin finished up with a figure of three for 22 from his four overs.
