More often than not, Indian current captain, Virat Kohli has proven that he is the best chase master in the cricketing world. And, one of his best innings came against Australia in the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup.
On this day i,e, 27 March, Virat Kohli’s brilliant half-century led the team to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup at home. He was up for the team which had lost the top order.
In the group stage matches, both India and Australia had lost to New Zealand and they had to fight to gain a place in the semis. At that point, India and Australia were the strong contenders of the coveted trophy.
Australia set the target of 160 runs:
At Mohali, Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. The visitors had a good start as Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja stitched up a 54-run partnership. But once Khawaja lost his wicket, the Men in Blue were right back in the game. Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah gave breakthroughs to the team as Australia was halted for 160 for six in 20 allotted overs.
Moreover, during the run chase, the opening batsman Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan lost their wickets early. India was down to 49 for three in 7.5 overs. From there on, Virat Kohli took the onus on himself. He set up a much-needed partnership with Yuvraj Singh before the latter lost his wicket. India still needed 66 runs off 36 balls and with the required run-rate on the higher side.
Virat Kohli’s masterstroke:
With Dhoni in the middle now, the doubles started coming in as the captain and vice-captain duo tried to make up for the lack of boundaries. But the asking rate still climbed and reached at 13 runs per over during the 17th over. Then the masterstroke came from the chase master. He struck consecutive boundaries at James Faulkner’s over. So much so, 19 runs came from the over as the equation dropped to 20 required off 12 deliveries.
At Mohali, Kohli was unstoppable as he struck Nathan Coulter-Nile four boundaries in five balls to take India close to victory.
At last, MS Dhoni took a single to see Men in Blue reaching the semi-final. Kohli stayed unbeaten on 82 off 51 balls and proving that every name given to him is pretty much correct.
Notably, Kohli scored 82 off 51 balls with the help of nine fours and two sixes.