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PHOTOS: India breeze past South Africa to enter WT20 final
Virat Kohli hit an unbeaten half-century to power India to a six-wicket victory over South Africa and a place in the final of the ICC World Twenty20, in Mirpur, on Friday.
Chasing South Africa's total of 172 for 4 from 20 overs, the 2007 champions, led by Kohli's fluent 72, which included five fours and two sixes, off 44 deliveries, overhauled the target with five balls to spare.
In Sunday's final, India will meet Sri Lanka, who beat the West Indies in the first semi-final on Thursday.
Earlier, a sparkling half-century by skipper Faf Du Plessis and JP Duminy's brisk unbeaten 45 helped South Africa to a challenging total.
Opting to bat first, South Africa had lost both their openers by the sixth over with just 44 runs on the board, before Du Plessis (58) added 71 runs with Duminy in 8.4 overs to prop the innings.
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Duminy aggressive from the onset
Duminy played aggressively even after Du Plessis, who returned to the side having missed Saturday's group match against England following a slow over-rate suspension, departed, hitting three sixes and a four in his unbeaten 40-ball knock.
The Duminy-Du Plessis pair added 71 runs in 8.4 overs for the third wicket, which laid the foundation for a fighting score.
Both these batsmen decided to play out Ashwin and attack the other bowlers which yielded desired results.
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Ashwin was the pick of the Indian bowlers
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the Indian bowlers, giving away 22 runs in his tidy four overs to claim the key wickets of Hashim Amla (22), Du Plessis and the dangerous AB de Villiers (10).
Amit Mishra gave his worst performance (0-36 in three overs) in the tournament, even as Dhoni was unable to complete the quota of his three specialist bowlers.
Indian openers off to a bright start
India made a bright and breezy start but then decided to preserve their wickets for a late assault after losing the openers, a ploy that ultimately paid off.
A flurry of boundaries, helped too. Rahane's was a backfoot punch through the covers while Rohit Sharma got an edge through slips and banged the next past mid-off as 14 came off the opening over.
Albie Morkel got the new ball from the other end and Rohit's spanking square cut got him his third boundary. His fourth boundary came when he pulled Morkel over the mid-wicket fielder.
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Hendricks provides the breakthrough
The 50 came off five overs as Rahane moved towards the leg-side to lift Parnell over extra cover for a huge six.
Parnell had his revenge when he bowled one just short of length and Rahane's short arm jab was taken by de Villiers, running from mid-wicket boundary position. Rahane took 30 balls for his 32 that had two fours and a six.
After Rahane perished trying to accelerate, the in-form Kohli again proved why he is considered India's batting mainstay.
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Kohli finishes the game with a boundary
Needing 51 off the last five overs, Kohli upped the ante as he smacked Imran Tahir over deep mid-wicket for a huge six to complete his 50 off 35 balls. But Tahir got a break when Yuvraj Singh (18) didn't get the elevation and A B de Villiers took one of the best catches of the tourney, running from his long-on position.
The script then pretty much unfolded on expected lines as India romped home comfortably.
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