Indian batting bulwark Virat Kohli perished to wily Australia leggie Adam Zampa while going for a rare lofted shot in his innings
Virat Kohli missed out on the chance to bring up his 52nd ODI century and take India to victory against Australia in the first semi-final of ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Kohli was dismissed for 84 in Dubai on Tuesday (March 4), leaving the door ajar for the Aussies. (Match Blog | Full Coverage | More Cricket News)
As is his wont, Kohli was acing the chase and pacing his innings near-perfectly to bring Rohit Sharma's side in striking distance of a final berth. But he perished to wily leggie Adam Zampa while going for a rare lofted shot in his innings.
The Indian batting bulwark faced 98 balls for his 84, hitting just five fours and no sixes in a trademark, laborious exhibition of risk-free cricket. Kohli kept milking the singles and never let the required run rate creep up too high.
But just when it seemed Kohli would finish off the chase to cap what would have been a match-winning knock against Australia, the limited-overs giant had a lapse in judgement. Zamba bowled a googly well outside off stump, and Kohli picked it up early, backing himself to clear long-on. But he did not get enough power on it, and Ben Dwarshuis completed the easy catch.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first, making it the 14th consecutive toss that India lost in ODIs. Rohit Sharma, who has been at the helm for most of this streak, has personally lost 11 tosses in a row, now tying Netherlands’ Peter Borren for the second-most toss defeats in a row by a captain.
Australia: Cooper Connolly, Travis Head, Steven Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Tanveer Sangha
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy