Carrying the hopes of 1.3 billion people on his bat, Virat Kohli memorably cut, pulled & steered India to victory in a manner that will remain etched in our hearts for quite some time. 9 fours and 2 sixes in a 51 run ball 82 don’t completely do justice to the innings that he played. Coming into bat at 23/1 after 3.5 overs, Virat soon lost his partners at the other end, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina leaving India jittering at 49/3.
A crucial 45 run partnership with a visibly injured Yuvraj Singh helped to stabilize the innings & lay the perfect foundation for a thrilling finish. With 3 overs remaining, 39 runs were still required at 13 runs an over with Australia’s specialist death bowler James Faulkner having two overs left.
Having just brought up his fifty of 40 balls in the previous over, Kohli went into overdrive taking Faulker to the cleaners for 19 runs in the 18th over followed by scoring 16 off the next over. 11 fielders weren’t enough on the night for Australia as Kohli found the boundaries at mercy. Captain cool M.S. Dhoni hit the winning runs as he somehow always seems to do and Kohli sunk to his knees, overwhelmed with emotion and took in the ovation of the rapturous Mohali crowd.
He had sunk a dagger into the hopes of the Australians of progressing to the semi-finals, however, his innings landed a greater blow to one of Australia’s finest all-rounders, Shane Watson. Shane had earlier announced his intention to retire at the end of the world cup saying, “One morning I woke up in Dharamsala to the beautiful view and I don't know what it was exactly but I knew now was the right time.
“I've really enjoyed my time being back in the Australian squad. But it is quite different, none of the other guys I played with growing up are here anymore. I've made the right decision. I couldn't really see the light with the all the injuries I had."
Being a terrific sport, Shane took to Twitter to congratulate Kohli on his incredible performance
Shane Watson was never going to go quietly. Known for his determination, power hitting & consistent bowling, he put in a performance for the ages. Desperately fighting to ensure it wasn’t his last match, Shane put in an all-around showing good enough to win any match on most days. Batting lower down the order at 4 down, he was unbeaten for a bright 18 of 16 balls with 2 fours.
However, it was with the ball and on the field that Shane put in an inspired performance. Coming into to bowl in the 6th over, he took the crucial wicket of Rohit Sharma, deceiving him for pace and rattling his stumps. The groans of ‘Come On!’ reverberated around the stadium and he was sending a message to the batsmen. He was back in the act with his very next over, Raina whose troubles with the short ball have persisted him for a while now, nicked a bouncer and was caught behind by a grateful Peter Nevill.
2 overs, 8 runs, 2 wickets, Watson was determined to ensure this wouldn’t be his last game. Yuvraj was just starting to look dangerous before he skied one on the offside and Watson covered great distance running back to take a tumbling catch. There was no keeping him out of the game. He came back to bowl the 14th and 16th overs and ended with figures of 4 overs, 2-23. It was a night that belonged to him, only Kohli didn’t get the script and powered India home.
Regarded as one of the best proponents of the limited overs game, Watson has had a remarkable career and has a number of highs to look back upon. He had 190 one-day internationals to his name scoring 5757 runs at an average of 40.54, and taking 168 wickets at 31.79. In 58 T-20 Internationals, he scored 1462 runs at a remarkable strike rate of 145.3 and took 48 wickets, taking a wicket every 19 balls.
Other career highlights include holding the record for Australia’s highest ODI score – 185* vs Bangladesh in 2011. He was named the player of the tournament at the 2012 T20 World Cup, where they came up short against eventual champions West Indies in the semi-finals. He joins Steve Waugh, Carl Hooper, Sanath Jayasuriya, Jacques Kallis, Shahid Afridi and Chris Gayle in an illustrious group of people who have achieved 10000 runs and 250 wickets in international cricket across all three formats.
He has won two world cups in 2007 & 2015. Watson has been the highest ranked T20 batsman, all-rounder and ODI all-rounder at various points of his career. Watson’s retirement will leave a gap in the backbone of the Australian team, one that they will struggle to fill.
People took to Twitter to congratulate ‘Watto’ on his magical career
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