Winning the key individual battles was pivotal to India's win over the Proteas

Irrepressible Virat Kohli

Gargantuan occasion – Team India relishes it, and as for South Africa, they just ‘choke’. It was no different last night either. The Steyns, the De Villiers and the Hashim Amlas failed to win the individual battles against their Indian counterparts, and in the end analysis, that was the one and only marquee difference between these two delicious T20 outfits.

Yesterday, I did an article, which underlined the importance of influential players from both the teams, and the impact they could have on the end result. As it turned out, both the influential players from South Africa flopped dreadfully, and the Indian talismans cashed in on an off-night for their South African counterparts.

Hashim Amla – bowled by R Ashwin

Hashim Amla needs no reiteration for the class and threat he possesses at the top of the batting order, and Ravichandran Ashwin removing the South African opener stifled the Proteas from running away with a quick start. Had Amla batted for another 3-4 overs, and with Du Plessis going all guns blazing at the other end, the equation could have been different. Mind you, Hashim Amla perishing should have brought in AB De Villiers at no.4, but the number of overs (14) remaining wasn’t the ideal platform for the right-hander to come in to bat.

That prompted a tweak in the South African batting order, and albeit JP Duminy came up with a solid 45*(40), it wasn’t the kind of T20 innings that can potentially change the course of the game. At the fall of Du Plessis, South Africa were 115/3, and still had 37 balls to make optimum use of an Indian bowling attack that didn’t quite fire on the night. A good 3-4 overs of De Villiers going hammer and tongs would have propelled the South Africans to stretch that total to somewhere around 190, but it wasn’t to be either.

Ravichandran Ashwin once again stepped up to the plate, and accounted for De Villiers. De Villiers’ is the kind of player, who can send shivers down the spine of the opposition captain, and seeing the back of one of the modern day greats would have given Dhoni and Team India a great deal of confidence. And even though Duminy came up with a few lusty blows at the rear end of the South African innings, 172 wasn’t a threatening total for the kind of firepower the Indian batting possesses.

Dale Steyn couldn’t work his magic

The other South African, who, I thought was going to be pivotal to the Proteas ambitions of finally breaking their ‘chokers’ tag, Dale Steyn, was taken to the cleaners by Virat Kohli, and in the early part of the Indian innings by Rohit Sharma. “Dale Steyn vs Virat Kohli” was always going to be the duel to watch out for, and Virat Kohli winning it hands down decimated South Africa’s chances of maintaining the pressure on the Indian batting line-up. Steyn disappearing for 36 in 3.1 overs was catastrophic as far as Du Plessis and South Africa were concerned.

To pull the curtains on this analysis, Ravichandran Ashwin winning his battle against Amla and De Villiers, and Virat Kohli coming out on top against Dale Steyn catapulted Team India into the finals, which will be an all Asian affair.

Stay tuned for another piece tomorrow when I would like to highlight the influential players from India and Sri Lanka on the night of the final.