BRIDGETOWN (Barbados): India’s opening duo Virat Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma’s run in the T20 World Cup ended after they once again failed to click in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa at Kensington Oval on Saturday.
In eight matches, the stalwart batting pair managed to muster up 133 runs at an average of 16.625. After failing to put runs on the board on the tricky surface of New York, their batting woes continued in the West Indies as well.
The duo failed to cross the 50-run mark once throughout the tournament. While playing in New York during the group stage, the duo managed to put 35 runs on the board across three matches.
In the Caribbean, the duo opened for India four times and managed to rack up 87 runs. Their highest partnership of 39 runs came against Bangladesh in the Super 8 stage.
They had one final chance to wash away the past by forging an influential stand against a fierce South African bowling line-up.
In the final, after India won the toss and elected to bat, the duo looked well set to put up a big score after they raced to 23 runs in just 1.3 overs. But Keshav Maharaj took away India’s wings by removing the in-form batter Rohit for a score of 9(5).
The Indian skipper did everything right while attempting to find the boundary with a sweep shot but he failed to keep it down. The ball fell straight into the hands of Heinrich Klaasen. In their final outing as an opening pair in the T20 World Cup, the duo of Rohit and Kohli forged 23 for India.
Despite Rohit’s dismissal, Kohli went on to play a composed knock till the penultimate over. After lifting his bat for his half-century in 48 deliveries, Kohli started to accelerate in the final three overs. He set the tone in the 18th over by launching the ball into orbit for a towering six on the first ball off Kagiso Rabada.
A quick double on the next delivery was followed by a classic pull shot to find the fence for four. He smoked the ball into the stand for a six and effortlessly found the fence for a four before walking back to the dugout with a score of 76 (59) in the next over. His efforts propelled India to a score of 176/7. (ANI)