ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Short of a ton but Kohli gets it done

In the final to be held on March 9, India will take on the winner of the other last-four encounter between South Africa and New Zealand.

Dubai: A long, fruitless and heart-breaking wait came to a comprehensive end at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday night, facilitating India’s entry into the final of the Champions Trophy.

India’s last victory over Australia in the knockout stage of an ICC event had come at the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal in Ahmedabad. Defeats since in the semifinal of the 2015 edition in Sydney and in the final of the last tournament a year and a half back in Ahmedabad sat heavily on Indian shoulders. Some of that weight was lifted as Rohit Sharma’s men surged to a comfortable four-wicket victory, hunting down their opponents’ competitive 264 with 11 deliveries to spare.

The highest total at this venue in this tournament ought to have been 15 or 20 more, given that this was a much better surface to bat on and Australia had the platform to build on despite the third-over dismissal of Cooper Connolly, caught behind off Mohammed Shami. Travis Head, dropped by Shami on his follow through off the first legitimate delivery of the semifinal, opened out after a slow start and Steve Smith, who opted to bat, hit his stride immediately, putting on 50 in no time when Varun Chakravarthy accounted for Head in his first over.

Smith was the glue that held the Aussie innings together while Alex Carey made a dazzling half-century at No. 6, but if Australia were denied an explosive finish, it was thanks to India’s relentlessness with the ball. Shami did drop Smith too, again a return catch that he couldn’t cling on to, and Kuldeep Yadav was well below his best, but the others held up their end of the bargain to ensure that at the break, India fancied their chances of making it to the final for the third Champions Trophy in succession.

Their hopes received a mild setback when Shubman Gill dragged Ben Dwarshuis on to his stumps, but Rohit began like a train in a hurry, like he has been doing for the last couple of years. Three fours and a six were interspersed with two ‘lives’ – he was dropped on 13 and 14 – when Connolly atoned for the first of those drops by trapping the Indian captain in front.

By this time, Virat Kohli had had a reasonable look at the conditions and he started to do what he does best – calmly eat into a target, first with Shreyas Iyer and then the admirable Axar Patel for company. Axar had dismissed Glenn Maxwell in the afternoon, in the over after Shami castled Smith with a full-toss, to dent the Aussie innings and when he walked in after a 91-run stand between Kohli and Iyer, he immediately hit his straps.

Axar was merely taking over from Iyer, who played his third meaningful hand in as many matches and making sure in Kohli’s company that the required rate never got out of hand. Australia had an attack with little experience of international cricket, but Smith marshalled them like a master tactician; that said, India didn’t panic or overreach, helped as they were by the fact that the Kohli-Iyer alliance was followed by a stand of 44 between the former skipper and Axar.

Dropped on 51 by Maxwell, Kohli seemed determined to bring up his second century in three outings until falling against the run of play, slamming Adam Zampa down long-on’s throat with 40 still required. But KL Rahul was calmness personified while Hardik Pandya began with a string of dots before smashing three sixes, among them a 106-metre monster off Tanveer Sangha, taking India to within a stroke of victory before throwing it away.

Rahul, who breezed past 3,000 ODI runs, was there at the end, smashing Maxwell over long-on to trigger celebrations in the stands and in the dugout. This may not be payback for the World Cup final but for now, this will do. Quite nicely, thank you.