India clinched the final semi-final spot in the ICC World T20 2016 on Sunday night after they defeated the Australians by 6 wickets at Mohali. While reading the result on paper – India chased down 161 to win by six wickets with five deliveries to spare – one might get the impression that it was a fairly simple run-chase for the hosts.
That was not the case because the surface, and some not-so-great batting by the top-order meant India had made the task difficult for themselves. The Indian batsmen struggled to find the boundary early on, only finding the fence on seven occasions in the first half of the run-chase – that’s as many boundaries the Australians scored in the first three overs of the match.
A Crumbling Top Order
Much to the dismay of the Indian fans, both the openers failed once again; Shikhar Dhawan was first to perish for 13, while Rohit Sharma followed two overs later for 12.
Both the openers were back in the dressing room when the score read 37 for 2 after 5.5 overs. Suresh Raina, another out-of-form batsman, perished nearly two overs later scoring a 7-ball 10 when India’s score read 49 for 3.
Out walked Yuvraj Singh to bat at number five. Already struggling for form, the left-hander suffered a freak injury to his ankle early on in his innings and that definitely impacted his ability to run between the wickets.
The southpaw crawled to a run-a-ball 13 before latching on to a low full-toss from Adam Zampa and depositing it into the stands at midwicket. That stroke must have certainly eased the tension building, but there was a long way to go. Shortly after that six, Yuvraj perished though, thanks to a magnificent catch by Shane Watson at cover.
All this while, India’s man-in-form Virat Kohli, who should have ideally dominated the strike had to be content with getting only half the strike. While Raina and Yuvraj were out in the middle, Kohli scored at less than a run-a-ball.
When Yuvraj perished, doubts must have started to creep in into the minds of the Indian fans if the semi-final spot was slipping from their clutches.
Virat, Dhoni Took the Fight to the Australians
That was when Virat and MS Dhoni, took the fight to the Australians. The enormity of Virat’s knock can never be completely appreciated until one faces a similar situation, but numbers do certainly aid in assessing how much he is a special talent.
Here was a 27-year old faced with a required rate of nearly 12 on a difficult pitch, all this with the crowd in the stands rooting for him and with the burden of a nation riding on his shoulders.
Having scored at less than a run-a-ball in the previous 25 balls, to soak in the pressure from all quarters, not get influenced by the pressure, stay in the current and then all of a sudden switch to overdrive mode and score at more than two runs a ball was a phenomenal accomplishment.
Virat’s Impeccable Knock
While in the partnership with an injured and struggling Yuvraj, Virat refused to take risky runs, now in the company of Dhoni – one of the quickest runners in world cricket, one got to see him sprinting like a hare.
While generally it is the powerful strokes – to the boundary and over it – that remain etched in memory, one must not forget how briskly Virat and Dhoni ran between the wickets.
There were ten boundaries and six hit in the 67-run partnership between Virat and Dhoni, but there were also nine singles and six twos, several of which challenged the top fielders in the Australian side.
There were several facets of Virat’s knock that stood out and one can never make a complete list of all the qualities that stood out. One thing that was certainly impressive on the night, and has always been a feature of his game, was his confidence level and choice of strokes.
Pressure can force even the best to do funny things, not to Virat though. Despite all the pressure, he still backed himself to score his runs playing ‘proper cricket strokes’ – the drive through cover, the pull shot, the square drives, the flick to the leg-side, the lofted off-drives. Purists will be happy here is a rare player who can succeed even in a fickle format like Twenty20 playing traditional cricket strokes.
And finally, after Virat has nailed another successful run-chase, how can one not marvel at his record in run-chases. The numbers speak for themselves.
Given what was riding on the outcome of the match, the pressure while out in the middle, it is not surprising that Indian captain MS Dhoni hailed Virat Kohli’s match-winning effort as an ‘incredible innings’. Virat himself rated his effort as ‘probably the top right now’.
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