Virat Kohli’s 84 in 98 balls led India to the third-straight ICC Champions Trophy final.
Chasing the target of 265, India won the game by four wickets with 11 balls remaining at the Dubai International Stadium on Monday.
Back in 2013 and 17, the previous two editions, India made it to the final. In 2013, they beat England on their home soil.
But in 2017, Pakistan outdid India in the final. In a challenging Dubai pitch, Australia put in a decent total of 264/10 in 49.3 overs.
Captain Steve Smith added 73 in 96 balls. The veteran cricketer got backing from Alex Carey, who scored a fast 61 in 57 balls.
Travis Head, who did look well while opening the innings, did add 39 runs in 33 deliveries before getting out to Varun Chakraborty.
Meanwhile, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill lost wickets early. But it did not make India lose the game from there as Virat Kholi and Shreyas Iyer did make a good partnership of 100-plus runs.
Iyer added 45 crucial runs before getting out to Adam Zampa. Axar Patel then added 27 runs in 30 balls, making another decent partnership with Virat of 40 plus runs.
Despite Kohli getting out, K. L. Rahul remained not out with a crucial 42 runs in 34 balls. His partnership with Hardik Pandya, who added 28 runs, did make India close to winning the match.
At last, Ravindra Jadeja had to play just one ball where he added two runs.
Rahul hit the massive six in the end, sending India to the final.
India will now face either New Zealand or South Africa in the final, which will now take place in Dubai only on Sunday as India are playing the tournament decider.
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