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Many changes of personnel, one simple change of sequence. The World Cup final in 2023 began with Pat Cummins choosing to give Australia’s bowlers the chance to choke out India’s batting. A year and a half later, in the Champions Trophy, Steve Smith as injury substitute decided that a very different Australian team should bat first. Late-career struggles or no, Virat Kohli remains one-day cricket’s greatest chaser. And while a miniature tournament semi-final in Dubai is not an equal trade for a World Cup decider in a packed house at home, there will be partial catharsis for this Indian side beating Australia in a global tournament knockout.
The target was 265, at a ground where scoring in this tournament has been modest, but after an early stutter the pursuit rarely looked a challenge in a win that felt much safer than margins of four wickets or 11 balls. Australia anticipated turn, leaving out left-arm quick Spencer Johnson to bring together leg spinners Tanveer Sangha and Adam Zampa, which left India’s openers wanting to lay into the remaining fast bowlers. Ben Dwarshuis and Nathan Ellis each got dispatched from their second ball of the day, while standing umpire Chris Gaffaney had to hit the deck to avoid a rifled drive.
But Rohit was also dropped twice in the first three overs before Dwarshuis bowled Gill off the inside edge. All-rounder Cooper Connolly was another inclusion with Matt Short injured, and his tournament debut did not start well: beaten six times in his nine balls opening the batting, a record for such a brief innings, then dropping the first Rohit chance. But where Smith barely used Connolly during the latter’s Test debut in Galle last month, the captain turned to him here in the eighth over, with fielding restrictions still in place. Left-arm spin worked to Rohit: a leave, a block, a missed sweep, leading to a burned review and the Indian captain lbw for 28.
But from 43 for two, Kohli and Shreyas Iyer built a perfectly judged stand of nudges and occasional picked-off boundaries. Connolly may have distracted Maxwell from a potential catch off Kohli on 51, and Iyer was bowled by Zampa moments later, but having already added 91 runs the chase was under control. Axar Patel joined Kohli to put on another 44, the score 178 for four by the time he was bowled by Ellis attacking the stumps, then it was KL Rahul with a concerted effort to push the accelerator down and lift any pressure from his partner, scant as that was needing five runs an over.
Earlier, unforced dismissals saw Australia throw away several chances to build on quality starts. The first instance came at 54-1 in the ninth over, then 110-2 in the 23rd, or 198 for four with 13 overs to go. At that latter point, something approaching 300 was a chance. But each time, India applied some aeronautical drag.
Leg spinner Varun Chakravarthy has been terrific since his recent elevation to the one-day side, and his very first ball here took out India’s tormentor, Travis Head caught down the ground for 39. Marnus Labuschagne built a partnership with Smith but missed a straight ball at his pads from Ravindra Jadeja on 29. Smith’s 73 was outstanding, punctuating defence with sporadic attack, but with a century beckoning he inexplicably missed a full toss from Mohammed Shami to be bowled. Maxwell promptly did something similar against Axar.
With Dwarshuis at No 8 becoming the first vertebrae in an unconvincing tail, it left Alex Carey in damage control at No 6, working his way up to 61 before being run out late in the piece by an Iyer direct hit from the deep. Australia were bowled out three balls short, and many more than three runs shy of a compelling total at 264.
There would be no Kohli century in the run chase, the main man inexplicably trying to slog-sweep Zampa for six when his own score was 84 and Rahul was blazing. But with India 40 short, he had taken them close enough. Ellis strove, conceding four runs from two overs, and Hardik Pandya had a couple of errant swings while worried about injury, but when Pandya connected with the final two balls of Zampa’s allotted overs, the dozen runs all but finished it. He gave Ellis a second wicket slogging the bowler’s last delivery of the day, but Rahul finished the game with a six.
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India now have a chance for 50-over silverware, their first since their Champions Trophy tournament in 2013. Incongruously, a tournament nominally hosted by Pakistan will see its final played in Dubai because of India’s refusal to visit the country next door. The remaining potential opponents, New Zealand and South Africa, have no choice but to acquiesce. Australia have no choice but to head home.
