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Images from the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final between India and Australia in Dubai on Tuesday.
Virat Kohli's 84-run knock steered India into their fifth Champions Trophy final with a clinical four-wicket win over an under-strength and profligate Australia in the first last-four clash here on Tuesday.
Set 265 for victory, K L Rahul (42 not out) finished off the match in grand style as he smashed Glenn Maxwell for a six to guide India to victory with 11 balls to spare in the first semi-final.
Kohli, who controlled the run chase in the middle overs, was the fulcrum of Indian batting as they chased down 265 in 48.1 overs after Steve Smith (73) and Alex Carey (61) rallied Australia to 264.
In Sunday's final to be played in Dubai, India will take on the winners of the second semi-final between South Africa and New Zealand to be played in Lahore on Wednesday.
Kohli got good support from Shreyas Iyer (45) with whom he put on 91 runs for the third wicket, and steadied the ship after the early departures of skipper Rohit Sharma (28) and Shubman Gill (9).
Australia were weakened by the absence of some of their premier stars, but India had not beaten them in the knockouts of an ICC tournament since the quarter-final of the 2011 World Cup.
However, Kohli was determined to correct that anomaly. The pitch used for the semi-final was fresh but much smoother than the ones on which the previous matches were played.
His near-perfect control in the middle overs helped him keep pace with the asking rate.
Kohli's struggle point in an ODI innings is his inability to force the pace against spinners, but against Australia he did extremely well to negate leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who had his number on a few occasions in the past, quite effectively.
The 36-year-old used the pull and drives, two of his most productive shots, to optimum effect. He placed him in the wide arc between sweeper cover and mid-wicket for easy, risk-free runs.
He lost the company of both Iyer, who played some delectable shots, and Axar Patel (27) in rather quick succession but Kohli went past his 50 in 53 balls.
Glenn Maxwell dropped him on 51 off left-arm spinner Cooper Connolly, a perceived early signal of an inevitable Kohli hundred.
But it did not arrive as an ugly hit off Zampa ended in the hands of Ben Dwarshuis near long-on when India were 40 runs away from victory.
K L Rahul (42 not out) and Hardik Pandya (28) played some smart and aggressive cricket as India cantered home without much ado.
However, the Indian bowlers too deserve some credit as they kept the Aussies batting on a tight leash despite well-paced fifties from Smith and Carey.
Earlier, India's bowlers were persistent but well-paced fifties from Steve Smith and Alex Carey carried a largely profligate Australia to a slightly sub-par 264.
Australian skipper Smith (73 from 96 balls) won a good toss, but the batters could not exploit a much smoother pitch in Dubai, throwing their wickets away through silly shots.
Throughout his stay, Smith was the pillar of Australian innings as he stroked a fluent 73, hitting four fours and a six in his 96-ball knock. He was involved in three 50-plus stands -- 52 with Travis Head for the second wicket followed by 56 for the third wicket Marnus Labuschagne.
The most crucial was the 54-run stand for the fifth wicket with Carey, who stroked a quickfire 61 from 57 balls, with eight fours and a six.
Australia would have been in a much better position had two of those alliances bloomed into something more substantial. Each of them fell against the run of the play and it started with Head.
Head's cameo of 39 had several slices of fortune -- a dropped catch by Shami off his own bowling in the first legal delivery of the match, a near run-out, and a couple of inside edges that missed the stumps by a whisker.
However, amidst all that, Head played some delightful shots such as a flicked six off Hardik Pandya and three fours in succession of Shami.
It helped the Aussies to recover from the early loss of Cooper Connolly, who opened with Head after coming in as an injury replacement for ruled out Matthew Short.
But Chakravarthy mitigated the Head threat when the left-hander skied him to a running-in Shubman Gill in the deep.
Labuschagne played back and across to a straighter one from the impressive Ravindra Jadeja (2/40) to get trapped in front.
Josh Inglis looked comfortable but a feeble uppish push off Jadeja ended in the hands of Virat Kohli in the covers.
However, Smith chugged along nicely with excellent control over batting and his thumping straight six off Jadeja was a piece of art in timing and power.
But his fine knock came to an end after he used his feet but missed out on a full toss from Shami, as the ball crashed onto the stumps.
Glenn Maxwell came to the crease in a perfect situation for him at 198/5 with 13 overs to spare.
He swept Axar Patel powerfully over square leg for a six but perished next ball as he bowled by the left-arm spinner, missing a straight delivery as he looked to clip it off his pads.
Carey carried on with determination at one end, and was engaged in a useful 34-run alliance with Ben Dwarshuis for the seventh wicket to see them past the 250-run mark.
However, Carey was run out while attempting for a non-existent second run, getting caught off the crease by a brilliant direct hit by Shreyas Iyer in the 48th over.
The task of scaling down a 250-plus total might not be a simple one in the semis, but India will not be unhappy as at one time they were staring at a 300-plus chase.