India crushed South Africa to reach the Final

India 4-176 (Virat Kohli 72*, Ajinkya Rahane 32, Rohit Sharma 24, Beuran Hendricks 2-31) beat South Africa 4-172 (Faf du Plessis 58, Jean-Paul Duminy 45, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-22) by six wickets.

India continued their dominance in the ICC World T20 with another superb performance by Virat Kohli and Ravichandra Ashwin as South Africa suffered a blow.

The Proteas scored 172 runs for the loss of just four wickets in 20 overs and the Men in Blue hammered 176 with six wickets in hand and five balls still available.

Virat Kohli (India) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his outstanding unbeaten innings of 72 from 44 mere deliveries.

The ICC World T20 – 2nd Semi-Final was played on Friday, April 4, 2014, at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur.

Virat Kohli - Hero of the Semi Final
Virat Kohli – Hero of the Semi Final

Earlier, Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat first on a good looking batting surface. The openers were gone at 44 as Jean-Paul Duminy and du Plessis crept to 66 after 10 overs but picked up the run rate after that. The boundaries were witnessed regularly and the latter attained his fifth T20 fifty on the 38th ball with a six. Faf du Plessis was clean bowled at 115 in 13.5 overs for 58 off 41 with 2 lofty sixes and 5 fours. The next wicket fell at 129 when David Miller associated with Duminy and they attacked the rival bowlers in the final overs. The batsmen remained unbeaten for 23, 45 and took their side to 4-172 in the required overs.

Ravichandran Ashwin was the top star with three wickets and Bhuvneshwar Kumar got one.

Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane provided a flying start for India by scoring 33 runs in three overs. The first was dismissed for 24 in the following one and was replaced by the man in form, Virat Kohli. The score was enhanced to 77 in 9.3 overs when Rahane became the next victim for 32 as Yuvraj Singh appeared in the park. Virat Kohli was the most aggressive of the two and reached his seventh T20 half century with a big six. The third wicket partnership was broken at 133 when Yuvraj Singh was gone for 18.

The Blue Shirts required 40 runs to win the match in 24 deliveries as Suresh Raina made things easy by hitting 16 runs in the 17th over. He surrendered his wicket for 21 off just 10 with 1 six and 3 fours and the winning run was dispatched on the last ball of the 19th over. Virat Kohli dispatched the winning four and secured his end for 72 off just 44 comprising 2 big sixes and 5 fours as the Men in Blue piled up 4-176.

Beuran Hendricks was the highest wicket taker with two whereas Wayne Parnell and Imran Tahir held one each.

India triumphed against South Africa with a huge margin of six wickets and will face Sri Lanka in the Final on April 6, 2014, at the same venue.


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