Till the end in the first semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, KL Rahul stayed to assist lead India to a four-wicket win over Australia.
Staying until the end, KL drove the winning runs with a maximum and a perfect 42 from 34 balls.
As the Indian star hit the sixth, a fan ran onto the field to embrace KL Rahul., who hugged the invader back before the fan was dragged away.
At a location that has usually created meager scores in the event, Australia rode half-centuries from skipper Steve Smith (73) and Alex Carey (61) to score a respectable 264 all out.
Although player of the match Kohli (84) captained India’s chase, he could not finish it. India won with 11 balls to spare as KL Rahul added an undefeated 42 down the order.
A fan run and hugged KL Rahul after he finished the match 🥺🫡 pic.twitter.com/ErCxbyLYbG
— SaveCricket (@SaveCrickett) March 4, 2025
Steve Smith chose to bat after winning the toss, captaining an injury-depraved Australia side with a second-string attack.
Shami bowled a returnable catch off Travis Head in the first over but wiped out Cooper Connolly for a nine-ball duck in the second.
Part of the team’s four-pronged spin attack, Varun Chakravarty had relief for his teammates by dismissing Head, India’s enemy, for 39 runs.
Defending an Axar Patel delivery, Smith got a resuming until the ball rolled on the stumps but did not dispirit the bails. When Shami dropped a second return catch, he got another ‘life’.
Jadeja knocked Marnus Labuschagne and Josh Inglis; Shami returned to level Smith’s off-stump with a full toss after the batter had gone out of bounds.
Just as Australia seemed ready for a late acceleration, Carey was run out and they finally crashed with three balls still to go into their innings.
Rohit, Smith’s counterpart, turned 28 and was dropped twice when India started their chase; although he couldn’t really take advantage of it, he was equally fortunate.
Still, Shubman Gill was not so fortunate as he knocked a Ben Dwarshuis offering broadly onto his stumps.
With Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (45) helped to get India back on course in their chasing.
Maxwell dropped Kohli soon after the batsman reached fifty, but Adam Zampa ended the 91-run partnership when he delivered Iyer.
An architect of many successful chases in India, Kohli holed out deep in the forty-third over, energizing the game.
Pandya, aged 28, stroked three sixes to help alleviate the India pressure and Rahul sealed their win by thumping Maxwell over the fence.
India’s victory sets Dubai to host Sunday’s final in which India will face the victor of the other semi-final between South Africa and New Zealand in Lahore on Wednesday.
After turning down tour of Pakistan due to the wealthy political ties between the two hostile neighboring countries—whose only matches come in multi-team competitions—India is playing all of its games in Dubai.
