19.1 -
Faulkner to Dhoni, FOUR, India win! And they are through to the semis. Kohli is a bit emotional as he sinks to his knees and laps it all up. How many times has Dhoni done it for India - hit the winning run for his side that is. Low full toss outside off, Dhoni swings across the line, the bottom hand comes off but he has found the gap at wide long-on. The ball runs away to the fence and the celebrations begin. As soon as the ball went to the fence, Kohli was on his knees and flung the gloves away. Then rises to his feet and pumps his fist, before pointing to the sky - is he thanking his late father? Could well be. MS is as cool as ever, just hugs his partner. Ravi Shaz is a pumped up man, a ferocious fist pump both with his left-hand and right, with gritted teeth. That is the celebration of the night for me! As Kohli walks back, out comes Harbhajan and lifts the hero of the night. He does love lifting people does Bhajji. A hint - cast your mind back to the T20 League. I don't want to get naughty here. Kohli looked a bit sheepish when Bhajji lifted him. But such a sport is the offie - the seniormost guy in the team.
19.0 -
Coulter-Nile to Kohli, FOUR, sorry. I give up. I'm running out of superlatives. I'm not Kohli. I'm just a normal human being. Not superhuman like Kohli is. Look at that shot. Overpitched alright, but needs to be hit and Kohli has laced that past a diving cover. The fielder did his best to stop that but such was the timing and power that it rocketed away. Fourth boundary of the over and India are almost home and dry
18.4 -
Coulter-Nile to Kohli, FOUR, Sunny Gavaskar is "wowing" on air. "Wow, wow" he says twice or thrice. This is unbelievable batting. From a different planet this lad. Mark my words. He is batting on another level. This shot is from another galaxy as well. Steps out to a length ball and knifes it over a leaping extra cover. Sweeper was just a mere spectator. Look at Kohli's face. He is aggression and concentration personified
18.3 -
Coulter-Nile to Kohli, FOUR, poor delivery from Coulter-Nile and he knows it. Turns around and walks back to his mark. Short down leg, with fine leg inside the circle, Kohli had to get it past the man and does so, swivelling on the stroke and pulling with power. No chance for deep square leg. Is that the game?
18.2 -
Coulter-Nile to Kohli, FOUR, and he makes up for it with a fabulous drive behind point. The crowd are going mad at Mohali. Half of them may need medical attention after the game. This is full and outside off, Kohli opens the face of the bat on the square drive and sweeper cover has no chance. All along the ground too. Now India's game to lose
17.2 -
Faulkner to Kohli, FOUR, he is doing it for India. What a player this fellow is. Full and wide outside off, Kohli opens the face of the bat at the last moment and gets it wide of point. Sweeper cover runs to his left and dives, but the pace on the shot beats the dive. Ravi Shaz claps while the Indian women's team are all smiles. Meanwhile the crowd go "Kohli, Kohli"
17.1 -
Faulkner to Kohli, FOUR, back of the hand slower delivery, Kohli swipes and gets four. Picks it and hits it hard, beats deep square leg running to his left. There was no dive, not sure even that would've proved successful. Just the start India needed
17.0 -
Watson to Dhoni, FOUR, he has missed the yorker and Dhoni edges one for four. Length delivery outside off, slashed away and the thick outside edge runs away to the third man fence. India needed that. Is that Watson's last ball in international cricket? Only time will tell
15.4 -
Hazlewood to Kohli, FOUR, that came off the inside half of the bat, but Kohli's bottom hand is so strong. Muscular and powerful, he uses his feet and swipes over mid-wicket. Expertly played wide of long-on and split deep mid-wicket too. Kohli is doing it again for India. Took the length ball from the stumps and put it away
14.4 -
Watson to Dhoni, FOUR, Dhoni delivers the pull and gets four. Watson is a disappointed man. Short delivery on the stumps, Dhoni swivels and pulls behind square, beats long leg running to his left. That was expertly placed in the gap. Should take some pressure off Kohli at the other end
8.1 -
Coulter-Nile to Yuvraj, FOUR, streaky but four. Angled across Yuvraj, who flashes and gets a thick outside edge. Would've carried to a third/fourth slip. But this isn't a Test match to be having that sort of a field. Beats the full-length dive from third man. Yuvraj will take it, but Australia are going for it, trying to bomb Yuvraj out
6.5 -
Faulkner to Raina, FOUR, that is a very lucky boundary for Raina. He tends to push hard at balls early on. Not on this wicket, this is holding up and nearly spoons a catch to cover. But luckily for him, the ball goes over the man and the quick outfield takes it away from mid-off. We saw Raina get out against New Zealand playing with hard hands, does the same to a slower delivery outside off, but it was in the gap. There was a big shout of "catch" but Hazlewood lost the race
4.4 -
Hazlewood to Kohli, FOUR, now Nasser on air is out of superlatives after watching that shot. This is even better than the last one. This line has got Kohli out many times. Full and the sucker delivery outside off, lured Kohli into the drive, but he has timed the pants off that. Square driven to the left of backward point and third man had no chance. Opened the bat face at the last moment to hit the gap and the crowd are loving this. Off goes Kohli and India have got this under control for the moment
4.3 -
Hazlewood to Kohli, FOUR, "He for sure has a good bat" chimes Brett Lee on air. He is gasping for breath after that shot. That's Kohli at his very best. Full and around off, he shuffles across and that allows him the room to play his favorite flick. Just a gentle roll of the wrists and the ball purrs across the turf through mid-wicket. That's a Test match stroke in a T20I. All class from the little genius
3.1 -
Coulter-Nile to Rohit, FOUR, that's a front foot pull. Rohit is India's best player of the short ball. Not Kohli. That is some statement. But that is a fact as well. This isn't a bad delivery, on a back of a length and on the stumps, but the key is Rohit picks the length so early, bit of pre-meditation involved there, but since he picked the length, slammed the pull over mid-wicket, one bounce over the ropes. Nearly went all the way. So what will Coulter-Nile do now?
0.2 -
Hazlewood to Dhawan, FOUR, magnificent shot to get off the mark first ball. That's the perfect delivery for Dhawan first up, just that the ball didn't move away off the seam or do anything out of the ordinary. Sat up to be driven through cover and Dhawan just blasted that after getting forward. Not a muscle moved and Dhawan will gain a lot of confidence from that. The crowd are roaring
17.3 -
Faulkner to Kohli, SIX, has that gone all the way? Yes it has. What is this man made of? Cometh the chase and he comes alive. Is he the best of all-time? Could well be. But that is a debate for another day. A little shimmy down the track and picks the slower delivery, lofts through the line and the ball goes up in the night sky and when it comes down, it has fallen beyond long-off. The fielder was interested for a while, but it kept on going beyond his reach. Kohli jumped in the air and punched his fist in delight. Pure adrenaline on display and boy is he pumped or what. Incredible stuff out there at Mohali
12.3 -
Zampa to Yuvraj, SIX, a gift from Zampa and Yuvraj on one leg will hit that at the age of 70 over the fence. He will do that in his sleep too. Just a lovely clean bat swing and the ball soars over wide long-on. Didn't even hit that hard, but when has Yuvraj belted the ball, he has always relied on timing. Has a steely look on his face after getting six
11.2 -
Maxwell to Kohli, SIX, Maxwell shakes his head and is down on his haunches. He can't believe that it has gone for six. Neither do I. It looked like Kohli had holed out after stepping out and mistiming the lofted hit, the bat turned too on impact as he was beaten in the flight, but it kept on sailing all the way and comfortably cleared long-off
2.2 -
Hazlewood to Dhawan, SIX, that has come out of nowhere. Typical Dhawan. Length delivery on middle, he swings across the line and connects beautifully. There was Maxwell at deep square leg, but he was just a spectator. Watched the ball sail over his head. Lovely sound when ball met bat
14.0 -
Faulkner to Yuvraj, out Caught by Watson!! What is this man Watto up to? He is turning the clock back. Vintage stuff. He doesn't want this game to be the last of his international career and is doing his darndest best to pull Australia over the line. Sensational catch from him running to his right at cover. But is this a blessing in disguise for India. Yuvraj was struggling to run and wasn't timing the ball as well. Kohli was increasingly getting frustrated at the running bit. So may work out in favor of India. Yuvraj early into the chip, but looked like he may have got away, but Watson didn't give up, ran and stuck his right hand out to pull off a blinder. He gets up and roars, with his veins sticking out. May have popped one for such was the ferociousness of that roar. Trademark Watto. Yuvraj c Watson b Faulkner 21(18) [4s-1 6s-1]
7.4 -
Watson to Raina, out Caught by Nevill!! I'm tired of seeing Raina getting out to the short ball. Lost count of the number of times he has been dismissed to that type of delivery. Would love to chew my stats editor - Deepu's brain to see if he can get a percentage on how many times Raina has got out to the short ball. That is for another day though. Watson picks up his second wicket and roars again with clenched fists. Typical Watson reaction. This was the slower short ball down leg, nothing delivery but Raina got inside the line to pull and gloved it to Nevill. The finger went up in a flash. Raina did all the right things there, was trying to roll his wrists on the shot, but played it a bit late, had he pulled a bit early, he may have got away with it. Australia fighting back tremendously well here. Raina just puts his head down and walks back with a forlon look on his face. Raina c Nevill b Watson 10(7) [4s-1]
5.5 -
Watson to Rohit, out Bowled!! "Come on" screams Watto with his arms raised in triumph. That is a warcry from the veteran. The mute button has been pressed at the PCA stadium in Mohali. Watson has deceived Rohit completely. The batsman stepped out, made room while doing so but Watson slipped in the cutter, the ball beat the top edge and fell on the stumps. Rohit was batting sensibly and didn't try to do anything fancy all the while, but a sudden rush of blood has consumed him. There was no need to do that for the asking rate was not out of control and there is Kohli at the other end, doing what he does best. But how often have seen Watson do this for Australia. Simple line and length, stump-to-stump line, allow the batsmen to make mistakes and picks his wickets that way. And crucial ones at that too. Replays show that the ball crept under Rohit's bat to hit the stumps. Rohit b Watson 12(17) [4s-1]
3.5 -
Coulter-Nile to Dhawan, out Caught by Khawaja!! The extra pace of Coulter-Nile has done it. He is a skiddly bowler and not easy to pull/hook unless you pick the length early and be in a position like Rohit was off the first ball of the over. This short ball hurries Dhawan on the pull and he completely loses his shape, top-edges it and short fine backpedals to take a swirler reverse cup. That wasn't an easy catch but Khawaja judged it well. Australia needed that for Dhawan was looking dangerous and always does well in big games in events. Also at Mohali. Remember his debut innings against the same team on Test debut? Still the Aussies will be having nightmares of that knock. Dhawan c Khawaja b Coulter-Nile 13(12) [4s-1 6s-1]