A fine weekend of cricket got over at Mohali on Sunday (March 27) with India beating Australia in a virtual knockout to progress to the semifinals of World Twenty20 2016. After the humdinger at Bangalore, India chased down the set target of 161 with five balls to spare, thanks to that man again – Virat Kohli. He has been a thorn in the flesh for quite a few teams, reserving his special best for Australia time and again. In nine innings against them in 2016 (across formats), Kohli has accumulated 662 runs with two hundreds and six fifties at an average of 110.33.
Here’s a breakdown of some of his statistical feats achieved during his unbeaten 82.
-When Kohli hit his first four of the match, he became the third batsman from India after Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina to hit 500 fours in T20s. He has 508 fours in 175 innings.
– Kohli has crossed 20 runs on all 19 occasions he has batted in T20I chases. Next best is Brendon McCullum, who has 18 such innings in 37 chases. Kohli has 918 runs in chases at a Bradmanesque average of 91.80. McCullum is the only one ahead of him – 1006 runs at 33.53 in 38 innings.
– Kohli became the first batsman to score four fifties in consecutive T20Is against a particular opposition. His last four innings against Australia read – 90*, 59*, 50 and 82*.
– Kohli has eight scores of fifty or more against Australia in 2016 (in nine innings, across formats). Only Desmond Haynes (14 in 1984) has more fifty plus scores against Australia in a year. Five others have exactly eight such scores, including Sachin Tendulkar on two occasions (1998 and 2008).
– 82* is the second highest score for Kohli in T20Is after 90* against the same opposition at Adelaide earlier this year.
– Kohli, when on 30, became the first batsman to reach 1500 runs in T20Is for India. His 39 innings to 1500 runs is the fastest by any, overtaking Chris Gayle’s 44 innings. Kohli is also the fastest to 1000 runs (27 innings) and joint second fastest to 500 runs (16 innings).
Besides those set and broken by Kohli, there were other records achieved in the match, thanks to the Australian openers and Ravichandran Ashwin, who had an atypical off day.
–Usman Khawaja and Aaron Finch took only 22 balls to reach their fifty partnership. It’s the fastest by a pair against India in World T20s. Previous fastest was off 24 balls by Craig McMillan and Jacob Oram at Johannesburg in 2007, and Dwayne Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul at Lord’s in 2009.
– Australia reached their fifty in just 3.4 overs (22 balls) – fastest by them in a World T20 and fastest by any team against India in World T20s.
– The Australian openers have put together 188 runs in four matches in the Super 10s – the most for a team. New Zealand are the next best with 154 runs.
– 59 runs in the powerplays – the most conceded by India in a World T20 match. Previous highest was 57 against England at Durban in 2007.
– Ashwin became the first Indian to take 50 wickets in T20Is. He was playing his 42nd T20I on Sunday. Overall, he is the 12th bowler and seventh spinner to reach the landmark.
– Ashwin’s economy rate of 15.50 is the second worst in an innings for him in his T20I career. The worst also came against Australia at Rajkot where he finished with figures of 2-0-41-0 and an economy rate of 20.50.
– Yuvraj Singh conceded an extra off his bowling for the first time in 14 World Cup matches. He bowled two wides and a no-ball in the match after going through 172 balls in his previous 13 innings without conceding an extra.
– The six off the last ball of Australian innings was the 1500th six in World T20s. Apart from the sixes hit by batsmen, there was also an overthrow which fetched a batsman six runs in the game between U.A.E and Zimbabwe in 2014.
– This was the third win for India against Australia in as many T20I matches in India. They beat them by seven wickets in Mumbai (Brabourne) in 2007 and by six wickets at Rajkot in 2013.
– India beat Australia for the sixth consecutive time in T20Is. Excluding Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and the associates, this is the joint longest winning run a team has had against a particular opposition. England also had six consecutive wins against New Zealand between February 2008 and February 2013.
It would be criminal to end the article without a tribute to the man who wore the Australian jersey for last time – Shane Robert Watson. He has played 307 international matches for Australia. In his last match, he scored 18*, took two key wickets and grabbed an important catch – a good all-round performance in a losing cause.
He retired as Australia’s (in T20Is):
– Leading wicket-taker (48 wickets)
– Second highest run-getter (1462 runs)
– Second best bowling analysis (4/15)
– Second highest individual score (124*)
– Second most number of appearances (58)
