India marched into the final of the ICC Champions Trophy for the third successive time by putting out a clinical performance with both bat and ball against Australia. The run-chase was guided largely by Virat Kohli, who went past 8000 runs while chasing in ODIs, in typical style with adequate support right through.

Kohli anchored the chase through some muddled waters to keep India on track. His entry to the chase was early with Shubman Gill chopping on in the fifth over. But Rohit Sharma, who was dropped twice, was playing the characteristic aggressor early on unafraid to exploit the powerplay. He hit 28 off 29 before missing a sweep against left-arm spinner Cooper Connolly to be trapped LBW. At 43/2 inside eight overs, the chase was in the balance with Australia eyeing to make more inroads. But Kohli, along with a resolute Shreyas Iyer, saw them through a worrisome period without many hiccups. The duo were adept at milking Australia’s spinners cutting off much risk-taking. Their 91-run stand got the chase back on track while also laying a solid foundation to build from.

Kohli got to his 74th ODI fifty but was put down soon after. Connollly induced a leading edge only for a diving Glenn Maxwell to spill it at short-extra cover. Iyer, who had been compact until then, was done in by a slider from Zampa to be bowled for 45. But Kohli found another able partner in Axar Patel, who got going with a slog-swept six off Tanveer Sangha. Their 44-run association off 50 balls pushed India closer towards the target while also ensuring that the required run-rate never got out-of-hand.

On a slow surface, Australia were still able to drag the game deep through regular strikes. Axar was then bowled by Nathan Ellis off a shortish delivery that skidded onto the offstump. KL Rahul, who followed, got into a similar template while Kohli held one end up adeptly. Heading into the last ten overs, India needed 65 but with six wickets in hand. Rahul lofted a couple of boundaries in the following overs to keep reversing the pressure. He added another loft off Adam Zampa to tilt the equation further. But in the same over, Kohli uncharacteristically, attempted a loft off Zampa only to hole out to long on. With the equation still being run-a-ball, Australia had a chance to get back into the game.

However, Hardik Pandya got his hitting right to pick up three sixes against the legspinners as India raced ahead. Pandya’s 24-ball 28 tilted the game decisively in India’s favour as they finished the chase with 11 balls to spare.

It capped off a similarly clinical performance with the ball that had seen them restrict Australia to a par-score of 264 after they were asked to bowl. India went in with an unchanged team, meaning they had four frontline spinners in the attack. On a fresh surface, and against an Australian batting line-up that was keen on reversing the pressure, they were not able to exert the same amount of dominance as in the previous game. But they still managed to create an impact right through. It started with Varun Chakravarthy, who struck with his first ball to Travis Head, having India’s nemesis miscuing a loft to long off. Head had mixed success in his 33-ball 39. The first 11 balls he had faced yielded only one run before he managed to accelerate. Mohammed Shami’s round-the-wicket line to both of Australian openers – Cooper Connolly being the other – had posed a few problems straight-up. Head was even dropped first ball when a leading edge was not held by Shami on his follow-through. But the pacer had the better of Connolly, beating his outside edge repeatedly, before inducing an edge that ended a scratchy 9-ball duck.

With Head’s acceleration too being nipped in the bud, India were on the ascendancy before they ran into Steven Smith. The Australian captain looked the most assured of all the batters, and rode on the confidence marking his intentions with a lofted boundary off Axar Patel in his first over. He had the rub of the green a couple of times when the bail wasn’t dislodged after an inside edge off Patel hit the stumps and later Shami dropped a tougher return catch. India managed to keep the innings boundary-free for 50 balls with the Smith-Labuschagne pair in the middle before the latter brought one up with a fine late cut. Labuschagne brought out the slogsweep as well to try and put the left-arm finger spinners off but his knock too was cut short when Jadeja trapped him plumb in front ending a 56-run partnership. Meanwhile, Smith brought up his fifty off 66 balls – the fifth time he’d gone past that mark in 7 ICC ODI knockout games – and anchored the innings well. The support at the other end though was dwindling with Josh Inglis chipping a simple catch to cover on 11.

However, the arrival of Alex Carey injected more momentum to the innings. His 54-run partnership with Smith came close to a run-a-ball through the middle overs with the spinners bearing the brunt of the assault. Carey was the aggressor in the partnership and continued to drive Australia through the rest of the innings almost single-handedly. Smith’s vigil came to an end when he jumped out against Shami and missed a full toss on 73. Australia were impeded further when Axar bowled Glenn Maxwell immediately after being hit for a boundary. But Carey took on the mantle thereafter bringing up a fifty off just 48 balls and played a key part in rendering Kuldeep Yadav ineffective. But just as he was gearing up for a big finish, he was run out by a sharp direct hit by Shreyas Iyer while attempting a second run. Carey became Australia’s eighth wicket with just under three overs remaining which robbed them of a late surge and were bowled out for 264 in the final over.

Brief Scores:
Australia 264 all out in 49.3 overs (Travis Head 39, Steven Smith 73, Marnus Labuschagne 29, Alex Carey 61; Mohammed Shami 3-48, Varun Chakravarthy 2-49, Ravindra Jadeja 2-40) lost to India 267/6 in 48.1 overs (Rohit Sharma 28, Virat Kohli 84, Shreyas Iyer 45, Axar Patel 27, KL Rahul 42*, Hardik Pandya 28; Nathan Ellis 2-49, Adam Zampa 2-60) by 4 wickets