India-South Africa Virat Kohli smashes heroic 76, India post 177 target for South Africa in T20 World Cup final
India's dependable star batsman Virat Kohli finally returned to form and contributed 76 runs while Axar Patel shined with his 47 runs knock as they helped their team post 176 runs for the loss of seven wickets against South Africa in the final of the T20 World Cup on Saturday.
Fans cheered aloud as the match proceeded on time with weather reports previously predicting rains during the final encounter.
South Africa, playing their first World Cup final, began the proceedings with a bang by dismissing Rohit Sharma (9) and then Rishabh Pant for a duck.
Spinner Keshav Maharaj gave India the early blows and reduced the 2007 champions to 2-23.
Suryakumar Yadav (3), who is known for playing hard-hitting shots and contributed with his bat in the semi-finals against England, failed in the main event and Kagiso Rabada showed him the door towards the pavilion.
India was struggling at 3-34 and Virat Kohli, who has been struggling with his form all throughout the tournament, kept things reserved for the final and played a heroic knock of 76.
He smashed six boundaries and two sixes in his knock which primarily stabilised the ship after initial jolts.
Axar Patel stitched with him the much-needed partnership by contributing 47 runs and rescued the innings from the initial stage of collapse.
Shivam Dube hammered 16-ball 27 which helped India post a competitive 176 runs on the scorecard.
Anrich Nortje and Keshav Maharaj took two wickets
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