India vs South Africa, highlights: Fiery Kohli guides India to final

Virat Kohli (72 not out off 44 balls) propels India to a six-wicket win over South Africa in the semi-final. Catch all the highlights here (Scorecard | Commentary | Match report)

 

10.01 (IST): Yet another run-chase and once again it was Virat Kohli who stepped up! He did not just take India to a win, but also became the leading run-scorer of the tournament for now (242 runs in five innings at an average of 121). His brilliant innings of 72 from 44 balls came despite him feeling a bit of weakness ahead of the game. Talk about pure class!

09.59 (IST): Indian captain, MS Dhoni: There was a sense of calm in the dressing room when we went out to bat. Most of the thoughts were positive. Everybody saw that the wicket was better than those we have played on, and they believed they could chase this down. It is not just the self-belief, but the belief in each other that is crucial. There are not many who are as consistent as Virat. It is great to have him at No. 3. He grabs his opportunities. Something everyone needs to learn from him. Ashwin was brilliant. We kept him back for AB de Villiers. We didn't want to give him pace. The least I could offer Virat was the winning shot so I played out the last ball of the 19th over without a run.

09.50 (IST): South African skipper, Faf du Plessis: I thought we had batted excellently. It was a very good score against a good attack on this wicket. Ash bowled really well. Credit to our batters to put up a good total. Runs on the board in the semi-final is what you ask for. The bad thing is, MS and his team know how to chase. They have done it many times. They pace their innings really well. Virat played a great innings. You have to credit. I thought we could have been better with the ball. The extras we conceded. If you have to win the World Cup, you have to get those one per-centers right. Unfortunately tonight, you can expect about five wides under pressure, but nine is too much. An up-and-down campaign for us. Our guys fought brilliantly, but India deserve to be in the final.

09.42 (IST): Man of the Match, Virat Kohli: Today was one of those days when I had to keep my cool. Against a world-class attack, with boundaries not coming, it wasn't coming. In Twenty20, I look at target in number of runs and overs to go, not runs and balls to go. Overs make it looks easier. I had to keep telling myself that I could make up later. I told Raina let's try to finish in the 19th over. We don't want to give Dale eight runs to defend in the final over. He can bowl six good yorkers. I wasn't feeling too good before this game, had some body weakness, so it is good to go out and let it all out with my celebration.

09.36 (IST): India storm into final with six-wicket win over South Africa in semi-final. Virat Kohli finished unbeaten on 72 off 44 balls as India chased South Africa's total of 172 down with five balls to spare.

09.21 (IST): Raina is throwing his bat around here! He gets a six and two fours off Wayne Parnell. India 150/3 in 17 overs, need 23 runs to win from 18 balls.

 

09.16 (IST): Oh dear! Yuvraj Singh is gone! What a spectacular running catch by AB de Villiers in the deep. India 133/3 in 16 overs, need 40 runs to win from 24 balls.

 

09.16 (IST): FIFTY for Virat Kohli! It's his seventh in T20Is. He gets there with a six. (India 132/2 in 15.4 overs)

09.12 (IST): A good finish to the Steyn over for India as Yuvraj Singh spots a slower one and he hits it for a straight four. India 122/2 in 15 overs, need 51 runs to win from five overs.

09.08 (IST): With 60 runs to get from six overs, Dale Steyn comes back into the attack. Will be interesting to see how Kohli and Yuvraj deal with him.

09.04 (IST): India reach 104/2 in 13 overs with Virat Kohli (36) and Yuvraj Singh (5) in the middle. India need 69 runs to win from seven overs.

09.02 (IST): 100 up for India! It has come in 12.3 overs. They now need 72 runs to win from 45 balls.

08.53 (IST): At the half-way stage, India have reached 80/2 in 10 overs, need 93 runs to win from 60 balls.

 

08.52 (IST): Rahane is gone! Another batsman falls in a bid to get some quick runs. He goes for 32, caught by AB de Villiers off Wayne Parnell.  (India 77/2 in 9.3 overs)

08.37 (IST): India have 56/1 in the first first powerplay. Here's how they've scored their runs:

 

08.28 (IST): Rohit Sharma (24) is gone! He attempts another big shot but doesn't get the distance on this one! He is caught by Faf du Plessis as mid-off, off Beuran Hendricks. (India 39/1 in 3.5 overs)

08.23 (IST): Dale Steyn comes in, starts well but is slammed for a six behind point, Rohit Sharma the man wielding his willow. (India 33/0 in 3 overs)

08.17 (IST): Rohit completes the second over with a pull over the in-field to the deep mid-wicket fence. That's the fifth boundary of the Indian innings already (India 23/0 in 2 overs)

08.16 (IST): Elegant! Rohit Sharma uses the pace of Morne Morkel and cuts him behind point for a boundary. (India 19/0 in 1.3 overs)

08.10 (IST): Good start for India in their run-chase. They collect three fours off Duminy. (India 14/0 in 1 over)

 

08.00 (IST): Here's how Ashwin bowled today:

07.54 (IST): South Africa post 172/4 in 20 overs against India. Faf du Plessis led from the front with a 41-ball knock of 58 while Duminy continued after his dismissal to score 45 off 40 balls. For India, Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/22.

07.44 (IST): Bhuvneshwar Kumar returns to bowl his final over (South Africa 146/4 in 18 overs)

07.38 (IST): Suresh Raina's four-over spell comes to an end. He has conceded 35 off it. (South Africa 136/4 in 17 overs)

07.34 (IST): BIG, BIG WICKET! AB de Villiers is gone! He went after Ashwin and skied the ball in the air towards the deep mid-wicket fence but failed to clear Rohit Sharma in the deep. He goes for 10. (South Africa 129/4 in 15.3 overs)

07.31 (IST): Amit Mishra has had an off-day so far. Another expensive over from him comes to an end. He has conceded 36 runs in three overs. (South Africa 126/3 in 15 overs)

07.25 (IST): Du Plessis is gone! This wicket has come against the run of play! Du Plessis was in monstrous form before being clean bowled by Ashwin. He walks away with 58 off 41 balls. Here's how he got all his runs.

07.23 (IST): Runs are coming thick and fast here. Another expensive over as South Africa reach 102/2 in 13 overs.

07.22 (IST): Thats a fifty for Faf du Plessis! The captain has led the team out of trouble here! It is his fifth in T20Is and has come off 36 balls (South Africa 95/2 in 12.2 overs)

07.19 (IST): A costly over from Raina as South Africa collect 16 runs off it. (South Africa 90/2 in 12 overs)

07.15 (IST): Mishra concedes eight runs off his first over as Duminy, Du Plessis look to steer the Proteas out of the early slump. (South Africa 74/2 in 11 overs)

07.12 (IST): Amit Mishra comes into the attack.

07.10 (IST): South Africa reach 66/2 in 10 overs vs India with Duminy (8) and Du Plessis (25) in the middle.

07.05 (IST): A lot will depend on this South African pair of Duminy and Du Plessis. It will be interesting to see their approach as Dhoni unleashes his spinners at them. (South Africa 58/2 in 9 overs)

 

06.55 (IST): What a ball! Ravichandran Ashwin has foxed Hashim Amla. Amla's fiery start comes to an end with a wonderfully deceived ball from Ashwin (South Africa 44/2 in 5.1 overs)

06.51 (IST): Commentator Sanjay Manjrekar makes a valid point about Bhuvneshwar Kumar and MS Dhoni standing up to him. He says that this move by Dhoni tends to negate the swing of Bhuvneshwar as the bowler starts to hit the deck than trying to generate swing with Dhoni standing upto the stumps. Another costly over as Amla picks up two fours off it.  (South Africa 43/1 in 5 overs)

06.43 (IST): A good over for South Africa! Three boundaries off it as they collect 17 runs (South Africa 34/1 in 4 overs)

06.42 (IST): Bhuvneshwar continues and MS Dhoni stands up to the stumps straightaway. Another good over (South Africa 17/1 in 3 overs)

06.41 (IST): Mohit Sharma starts well, giving away just three runs. (South Africa 13/1 in 2 overs)

06.35 (IST): Good start by Bhuvneshwar here. A hint of swing for him. After de Kock managed to get a four off an inside edge to the fine leg fence, an under edge on the next delivery carried to 'keeper Dhoni. (South Africa 10/1 in 1 over)

06.34 (IST): WICKET! Bhuvneshwar Kumar strikes! Quinton de Kock (6) is gone, caught behind by MS Dhoni (South Africa 9/1 in 0.4 overs).

06.29 (IST): Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock walk out to open the batting for South Africa. Bhuvneshwar Kumar starts the proceedings for India with the ball.

06.09 (IST): Interesting move from India to leave out Mohammad Shami and keep Mohit Sharma in the side. To Mohit's credit, he did bowl well against Australia and finished with figures of 1/11 in 2 overs.

 

06.07 (IST): Teams:

 

India: Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja , Ravichandran Ashwin Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit

Sharma

SA: Q de Kock, H Amla,AB de Villiers, Duminy, D Miller, F du Plessis, A Morkel, D Steyn, B Hendricks, Tahir, W Parnell

 

06.05 (IST): South Africa win toss, elect to bat first against India in the second semi-final. Both teams remain unchanged.

05.35 (IST): After hailstorm played spoilsport in the first semi-final between Sri Lanka and West Indies, there are chances it might return to ruin India's game against South Africa. The current weather forecast doesn't look good.

 

05.18 (IST): The 2014 edition of the tournament has seen a lot of individual brilliance as far as the batting is concerned. Here's a list of top-10 individual scores:

Overall head-to-head stats: This tie will be the eighth head-to-head T20I between India and SA. India won five out of previous seven.

MS Dhoni stat: India have never lost a semi-final under Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Head-to-head stats: India have the better record against South Africa in World Twenty20s. The two teams have met four times in different version of the tournaments and India have won three of those meetings.

 

India are favourites: Faf du Plessis

South African captain, Faf du Plessis, has a simple recipe for success in the ICC World Twenty20 semi-final against India on Friday: key decision-making during pressure situations. The Proteas face another knock-out situation in an ICC event, and will be keeping it simple in search of the elusive silverware.

"We have felt it a couple of times before that it was our time and that didn't work out," Faf du Plessis said at his pre-match press conference in Dhaka on Thursday. "To be honest with you, India is still regarded as favourites. We have almost been playing as underdogs; no one really gave us a chance before the tournament. (Read more)

India will go to finals if match is washed out

With the weather forecast for Friday predicting another round of heavy rainfall, India will be the lucky team if it eventually pours as they would then automatically advance to the final of the ICC World T20.

As per the weather forecast in Dhaka, around 70 percent chance of rain is predicted and it could again play spoilsport during the second semi-final between India and South Africa.

As per the playing conditions, even if a five-over per-side match is not possible, the team that is ranked higher in their respective group will be declared winner of the contest.

In this case it will be India as they have emerged as group champions, winning all their four matches in Group 2, while South Africa were second in their group with six points by virtue of three wins. (Read more)

Yuvraj Singh fit to play

India received a boost ahead of Friday's ICC World Twenty20 semi-final against South Africa when Yuvraj Singh was declared fit following an ankle injury, an official said. The flamboyant cancer survivor hurt his left ankle while playing football with team-mates on Wednesday, but the Indian squad's media manager R.N. Baba said there was no cause for worry.

"Yuvraj is fit. He will attend practice," Baba told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka.

The 32-year-old overcame a lean trot to smash an attractive 60 off 43 balls, containing four sixes and five fours, against Australia on Sunday.

Yuvraj, who was man of the match during India's World Cup-winning campaign in 2011, was diagnosed with a rare lung cancer later that year and received chemotherapy treatment in the United States. (Read more)

Ravichandran Ashwin: What can Shane Warne teach in a day?

Claiming to be at the top of his game right now, Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday said he is not bothered by competition breathing down his neck as his endeavour is to improve himself. "To be really honest, I've never bothered about who's behind my shoulder. That's not how I play my cricket. I believe in improving every day, and I don't say it just for the sake of it," Ashwin replied on being asked about competition from leg-spinner Amit Mishra.

"Unless you don't keep improving, you're not going to last the distance. You lose out. It's pretty much like a business model, that's how I view it. Somebody's behind my shoulder? They can stay there. I'll just keep doing what I do best," he added.

Having got two man-of-the-match awards in last two matches, the Tamil Nadu tweaker said that he is "at the top of his game" currently. "In the last two or three months, I feel that I'm probably at the top of my bowling game. When I reach that phase, I pretty much don't practise at all. That's a phase I'm in right now. The ball is landing exactly where I want it to land," he said.

Playing alongside Mahendra Singh Dhoni at Chennai Super Kings has certainly helped him as the skipper knows his style of bowling inside out. "It's not about what I'm doing or where I'm given the ball. I've been playing alongside Mahi for some time, and he probably knows where to use me and where not to use me. I'm always open to bowling in any situation, so for me it doesn't make any difference." (Read more)

India's selection dilemma

They are on a high after four victories on the trot but team combination and injury to Yuvraj Singh will be a worry for India as they go into the second semifinal of the ICC World Twenty20 against a determined South Africa on Friday.

While the Indian team management will be hoping that Yuvraj recovers fully from his ankle injury which he sustained during a football session, selecting the final XI could be a tricky proposition for them.

The dilemma facing the Indians is whether to retain Ajinkya Rahane in place of out of form Shikhar Dhawan and Mohit Sharma, who had replaced Mohammed Shami in the last match against Australia. (Read more)