MOHALI: Virat Kohli smashed a masterful 82 to guide India to a six-wicket win against Australia in their final World Twenty20 Super 10 game on Sunday and set up a semi-final against West Indies in Mumbai.

Kohli resurrected India with his unbeaten 51-ball knock from a seemingly tricky position as the hosts sprinted home in the end with five balls to spare.

“That performance certainly has to be in my top three but probably it is top right now because I’m a bit emotional,” said Kohli.

“A lot was riding on us playing at home and with the crowd you want to give them as much entertainment as possible.”

India’s bowlers pulled Australia back from a blistering start to restrict them to 160 for six wickets after Australia won the toss and opted to bat.

Hosts India, inaugural World T20 champions in 2007, and reigning 50-over title holders Australia had won two matches each, with their only loss coming against New Zealand in the Super 10 stage.

New Zealand face England in the other semi-final.

India needed 39 from the last three overs when Kohli decided to show his class which has earned him accolades as one of the world’s best current batsmen.

He smashed James Faulkner, who took Australia’s best T20 figures during a five-wicket haul in the last match, for two fours and a six as the left-arm paceman leaked 19 runs.

Kohli then hit Nathan Coulter-Nile for four boundaries in the next over to bring down India’s target to just four runs off the final six balls with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni finishing it off with another four off Faulkner.

Earlier, Australia chose to bat and openers Aaron Finch (43 runs off 34 balls) and Usman Khawaja (26 off 16) got to the 50-run mark in only 3.4 overs.

But Australia slowed down afterward and needed almost 13 overs to reach 100.

Glenn Maxwell (31) was the other main contributor, while Hardik Pandya took 2-36 for India.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA:

U.T. Khawaja c Dhoni b Nehra 26

A.J. Finch c Dhawan b Pandya 43

D.A. Warner st Dhoni b Ashwin 6

S.P.D. Smith c Dhoni b Singh 2

G.J. Maxwell b Bumrah 31

S.R. Watson not out 18

J.P. Faulkner c Kohli b Pandya 10

P.M. Nevill not out 10

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-11, NB-1) 14

TOTAL (for six wkts, 20 overs) 160

FALL OF WKTS: 1-54, 2-72, 3-74, 4-100 (FINCH), 5-130, 6-145.

DID NOT BAT: A. Zampa, N.M. Coulter-Nile, J.R. Hazlewood.

BOWLING: Nehra 4-0-20-1; Bumrah 4-0-32-1; Ashwin, 2-0-31-1 (3w); Jadeja 3-0-20-0 (1w); Yuvraj Singh 3-0-19-1 (1nb, 2w); Pandya 4-0-36-2 (1w).

INDIA:

R.G. Sharma b Watson 12

S. Dhawan c Khawaja b Coulter-Nile 13

V. Kohli not out 82

S.K. Raina c Nevill b Watson 10

Yuvraj Singh c Watson b Faulkner 21

M.S. Dhoni not out 18

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-2) 5

TOTAL (for four wkts, 19.1 overs) 161

FALL OF WKTS: 1-23, 2-37, 3-49, 4-94.

DID NOT BAT: H.H. Pandya, R.A. Jadeja, R. Ashwin, A. Nehra, J.J. Bumrah.

BOWLING: Hazlewood 4-0-38-0 (1w); Coulter-Nile 4-0-33-1; Watson 4-0-23-2; Faulkner 3.1-0-35-1; Maxwell 2-0-18-0; Zampa 2-0-11-0.

RESULT: India won by six wickets.

UMPIRES: H.D.P.K. Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and M. Erasmus (South Africa).

TV UMPIRE: R.K. Illingworth (England).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Virat Kohli.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2016