Virat Kohli's brilliant 72 helped an impressive India side beat South Africa and qualify for Sunday's World Twenty20 final
5.26pm BST
Well that's your lot. South Africa batted pretty well and fielded pretty well, but their bowling wasn't fantastic, and if India's fielding was occasionally slapdash in all other areas they were excellent, bowling well, batting brilliantly and running superbly. They'll be strong favourites for the final, and deservedly so. A great team in great form. Thanks for your company, it's been a blast. Bye!
5.23pm BST
And so to MS Dhoni: "There was a sense of calmness in the dressing-room. Everybody saw the wicket, how it behaved. It was a better wicket than we've played on so far, and that's why we believed we could score the runs. Ashwin was brilliant. We had a few strategies in mind. We wanted to keep him for the middle overs, and I didn't want the fast bowlers to bowl at AB. Overall, I think 170 was gettable."
5.20pm BST
South Africa's Faf du Plessis speaks: "I thought we batted excellently. It was a very good score against a good attack on this wicket. So credit to our batters for putting up a good total. The bad thing is, MS and his team they know how to chase. They've got guys who know how to pace innings. Sometimes you just have to give credit to a really good batting performance. Tonight I think we lacked a little bit in the bowling department. I think we bowled nine extras. We're also to blame."
On Kohli: "He's a world-class player. He paced the innings well. The thing with India, you get wickets and a new batsman comes in who can take the game away from you. That's why they're so successful. To win a game against them you have to be on the money with the ball. You might get away with bowling five wides, but nine is a little bit too much."
5.15pm BST
Virat Kohli is the man of the match, to nobody's surprise. "Today was just one of those days when I had to keep my cool. It was all about staying in there and believing in myself," he says. " In Twenty20 cricket you have to know when to accelerate, when to defend. I think we judged that beautifully today. I had in mind, let's look to finish in the 19th over. Once we got that one big over, I sensed we could finish the game six balls before. With Steyn bowling, you never know, he could bowl six perfect yorkers and you lose. I wasn't feeling too good before this game, I had a bit of body weakness, so it was good to go out there and win it."
It was interesting that he gave Dhoni an absolute rollicking for turning down the opportunity to win the match in over 19, however gallant an act it may have been.
5.10pm BST
A fine match, won by a wonderful innings by Virat Kohli, brilliantly judged and perfectly paced. A good effort from South Africa, who will feel narked about all those wides, but there's no shame in losing to a performance like that.
Some player that Kohli.Looking forward to watching him this summer.
5.07pm BST
And Kohli does finish it! Kohli smashes the ball low and hard through midwicket, and India win with five balls to spare!
5.05pm BST
Hendricks' first ball is swept past square leg for four by Raina, and India are one big hit from victory. Raina watches a slow bouncer fly past his nose, and then gets himself out. No matter, Kohli's got this covered. Kohli pulls through square leg for four, and again to deep midwicket for a single. Dhoni has one to face, but thinks Kohli's earned the right to hit the winning run, and makes no attempt whatsoever to score. What a gentleman.
5.03pm BST
India need six to win, and Raina wanted to get them sharpish but didn't hit the ball cleanly, and gave Du Plessis an easy catch. Now, though, Kohli is on strike with three balls to face.
5.00pm BST
Steyn's over starts with another wide, the ninth of the innings. That's not good enough against a team that requires no assistance, and later an Amla misfield gives them another free run. A couple of singles and then Kohli swats one past long on for four, De Villiers not quite reaching it in time. Not only are South Africa not particularly enjoying this barrage of big-hitting, neither is the ball, which finally pops a seam and is switched. Kohli welcomes the new one by lifting it to the boundary at point. India need 10 runs from two overs. Kohli's innings has been magnificent, really, under the greatest pressure.
4.53pm BST
A bad over from Parnell, probably a decisive one. There's yet another wide, and then he slams one in short and Raina pulls it over the short fine leg boundary for six. Then another bouncer, too wide, needs just a little touch to be sent away towards third man for four. The penultimate ball is fine, by Raina inside-edges it for another four. Seventeen runs off it. Massive.
4.47pm BST
The first shot is well fielded by Du Plessis, the next by a diving Steyn, who flings himself to his right to stop it. But no fielder's stopping the ball when Kohli really connects, and the fourth delivery is pummelled over long on for six, to bring up his half-century. Yuvraj is out from the final ball of the over.
4.46pm BST
A brilliant diving catch from De Villiers, running around from long off!
4.43pm BST
Dale Steyn returns to bowl overs 15, 17 and 19, and India work every ball to a fielder or near enough, scampering a single on each occasion, until the final delivery, slow and straight and straight-batted down the ground by Yuvraj for four.
4.38pm BST
Tahir bowls, and Yuvraj cuts fine for four to set India on their way to nine runs from the over. This is still close South Africa were 116-3 at this stage but India are just exuding a sense of high-momentum, wind-in-the-hair calm, as if this is completely under control. They need precisely 10 an over.
4.35pm BST
Hendricks bowls a shortish delivery, and Kohli hooks the ball wide of fine leg for four and, just as impressively, twice hits shots that were probably worth singles but runs sharp twos. Very fine running, that. Sharp scampering.
4.31pm BST
Imran Tahir bowls, and India score four singles (though they get another gift-wrapped in the shape of a wide). South Africa were 90-2 at this stage; another cheap over and this will really be on a knife-edge.
4.27pm BST
Duminy's first ball is launched down the ground for six by Kohli; later there's an optimistic lbw appeal against Yuvraj, correctly turned down. "That reverse sweep miss by Rahane when de Kock appealed reminded me of when I aged six was fielding a bit close to my elder brother in the garden and he smacked me in the mouth with his bat," writes Richard Thomson. "He still claims it was an accident. Still got the scar." I can't blame you if I was scarred for life by a fraternal childhood cricket-bat-based mouth-smacking I'd still be thinking about it too.
4.23pm BST
Parnell bowls, Kohli fends it into the on side and the bowler dives towards the airborn ball. Oooooooh! screams the crowd. The ball was miles away from Parnell. If Parnell was 15ft tall he still wouldn't have caught it. It's possibly the least rational oooooooh in cricket-supporting history. Please, folks, use your ooooooohs wisely.
4.21pm BST
A wild shot sends the ball spinning high into the air, and De Villiers takes a straightforward catch.
4.19pm BST
India seem to have deliberately calmed things down here, running ones and twos rather than slashing fours and sixes. Six off the over, one a wide, the rest singles.
4.16pm BST
Morkel's second over of the day, and the first four go for singles, the last two for two. No big hitting there, but plenty of good running..
4.12pm BST
Imran Tahir comes on, with South Africa needing someone to bring down the run rate and/or/but preferably and take wickets. Sky's commentary team are most excited, though, by some of the bowlers' haircuts. Five singles and absolutely no wides in the over.
4.08pm BST
Hendricks' over includes the regulation wide, though he waits until his second delivery to wheel it out this time. Still, just four runs from the over, which makes it precisely half as expensive as the next least expensive over of the innings so far.
4.04pm BST
Improbably, Parnell's first delivery, like Hendricks' and Steyn's, is called wide. India hardly need freebies, but they're getting plenty. Later Rahane dices with disaster with a weak-wristed pull that only just clears the fielder, and and then shuffles to his left, leans back and heaves over cover for six.
4.00pm BST
Hendricks' first delivery, like Steyn's, is called wide, then he overcompensates and Rahane uses the width and works the ball over point for four. That excepted, though, it's a good over, with variety of pace and length.
3.58pm BST
Sharma hits big, down the ground. Watching on TV the ball went high, and I was waiting for it to drop over the rope for six. Instead it hardly travelled at all and dropped about six yards behind the bowler's arm, where Faf du Plessis was waiting for it.
3.54pm BST
No second over for Duminy, to nobody's great surprise. Instead Dale Steyn is called upon, and his first ball floats wide of leg stump, which doesn't help. Still, the over improved from there and the fourth legal delivery zipped past Sharma's swinging bat soundtracked by a million worldwide "ooooooh!"s. The next, though, was slammed past point for six.
3.49pm BST
Morkel bowls over two. Sharma's first ball the third, Rahane having grabbed a second-ball single is very nicely worked to backward point for four. Then he pulls the final delivery over mid-on for another. What an excellent start to this innings.
3.44pm BST
Duminy has the first over, and it's not one he'll want to remember. Rahane's first ball the third, Sharma having grabbed a second-ball single is very nicely guided through cover for four, then Sharma edges the ball for a lucky boundary of his own, and promptly goes down the pitch and pushes past mid-off for another. Here's a fan's eye view of the action:
3.38pm BST
India's batsmen are out. How will they handle the pressure of having to pull out a big score in a knockout tie? We'll find out very soon. Now, basically.
3.27pm BST
A decent score, that, which sets things up brilliantly for India's innings. If the team batting second goes on to win, Ashwin will have hand firmly raised and wildly waving when it comes to the man-of-the-match vote, which he's probably earned for Amla's dismissal alone. Duminy says: "I'd have taken the 170. I guess 45 off 40 doesn't seem that good, but in the context of the game I'm pretty happy. On this track, we definitely can defend that."
3.23pm BST
Mohit Sharma takes the ball for the final over, and his first delivery is begging to be hit and isn't, not with any conviction anyway. His second is better; both go for singles. The third is a slightly short yorker which Miller thuds down the ground for six; the fourth wide, full and slow and Miller doesn't get anything on it at all. The fifth is cut through third man for four, and the last is a good yorker which Miller gets some bat two and then starts running; he does excellently to come back for two.
3.17pm BST
Kumar returns, as Duminy hits the first straight back at the bowler, and doesn't hit the second at all, but then he gets one right and it flies way over midwicket for six. Then Miller hits through the covers, just beating the diving fielder and the ball running away for four. Twelve from the over, Miller on strike.
3.13pm BST
Ashwin finishes his allocated overs, and halfway through Duminy suddenly transforms, dancing down the pitch to launch the ball over long off for six, and then rolling out the slog sweep but only edging it and running a single. Even with that six, Ashwin's four overs go for a total of 22 runs and bring three wickets, which is not entirely bad all things considered.
3.10pm BST
Suresh Raina's final over is a riot of singles. Six runs, one per ball. Duminy's sudden acceleration remains on hold.
3.07pm BST
Duminy has taken 28 balls over his 26 runs so far, but with De Villiers gone he's got to show us something else now. A fine over from Ashwin, three runs and a key wicket off it.
3.05pm BST
De Villiers gives himself space and launches the ball over square leg. He hits it hard enough but just too high, and Sharma takes the catch on the rope.
3.02pm BST
Mishra bowls, and De Villers pokes the ball straight to Yuvraj Singh at mid-off who lets the ball run through his legs, gifting South Africa two runs. De Villiers doesn't need gifts in this kind of form, and rubs it in with a reverse sweep for four. Mishra's three overs have gone for 36.
2.58pm BST
Du Plessis fails to score from Ashwin's first delivery, the first dot ball since the middle of over 11. Still, he makes up for it fast enough Ashwin gets his length wrong and Du Plessis' reaction is immediate and emphatic, opening his body up and launching the ball over long on for six. A great shot, but his last.
2.57pm BST
Du Plessis misses the ball, which clips his pad, flies into his chest and deflects into the stumps. A bit of a lucky breakthrough, that, but they call count.
2.54pm BST
Again lots of grip and spin for Mishra, but Du Plessis just waits for the ball to do its moving and then pops it past point for four, before a scurried single brings his half-century. Still, that brings the relatively out-of-touch Duminy onto strike, and he oh he's totally smashed it over midwicket for six and oh he's nicely swept another one for four. Another big over for South Africa 16 off the 12th, and then 17 off the 13th.
"Afternoon Simon," writes Simon McMahon. Afternoon. "Sky just flashed up a question asking 'Will England go all the way in this tournament?' Has somebody not told them? Unless of course they meant 'all the way to rock bottom'. In which case the 71% who answered yes were right." All the way back home, quickly?
2.50pm BST
Raina continues, and his first ball beats both Duminy's wild heave and Dhoni's attempt to gather and South Africa take the bye. That brings Du Plessis onto strike, and he sweeps one ball over square leg for four, and another stretching, pretty much one-handed a bit further over square leg for six.
2.45pm BST
Mishra, getting plenty of turn off the pitch, starts promisingly, but then spoils his work by inexplicably bowling a no-ball. Du Plessis thrashes the free hit through the covers for four, which helps matters considerably. "Feel that Dhoni's overestimating South African batting while underselling the quality of his spin resources here," suggests Rohit Negi. "Seems he'll settle for 160 when he could really with more aggression keep SA to 135-140.
2.41pm BST
A horrible misfield gets South Africa back on the boundary trail, Du Plessis hitting high over mid on but two fielders competing to gather the ball near the boundary. Sharma slides in to do the honours but gets it horribly wrong, the ball gently rolling into the rope. Halfway through and Du Plessis is chugging along at a run a ball; Duminy is going at precisely half that pace.
2.37pm BST
Jadeja continues, and South Africa scratch together five more runs, every one of them a single. The last boundary was in over No5.
2.35pm BST
Raina starts his evening with a wide, and a variety of ones and twos follow. Spin has sucked the spirit out of South Africa's innings, but they're still in a decent place. Interesting times, and getting more interesting by the second.
2.31pm BST
There's a lbw shout against Duminy, not a very good one, and Jadeja gets a ticking off for dancing all over the place while he appealed, and then a briefer and no more successful appeal from the final delivery. Three singles followed by three dots.
2.28pm BST
Here's that wicket-taking delivery in full. Worth repeated viewing, I think. One run a wide from the over.
2.26pm BST
Amla was looking in very fine nick, but Ashwin gets the ball to move a load and it flies past the bat and clips off stump. Lovely delivery.
2.23pm BST
Karma bowls a bit straight and Amla, like he does, flicks the ball off his pads and square for four. So the bowler compensates with a little more width, and Amla boshes the ball over the cover fielders for four more.
2.20pm BST
Hello, baby! Sharma's second over starts with Amla perfectly bisecting the cover field, a very fine stroke for four. His next boundary isn't quite as impressive, an outside edge flying through the space where a slip was standing until about two minutes earlier and away for four. Then a leg bye brings Du Plessis onto strike, and he takes half a step to his right to give himself room to heave over midwicket for four. South Africa double their score in the space of an over.
2.15pm BST
Kumar continues, and there's some sharp but still sensible running going on which keeps the score ticking over.
2.11pm BST
Mohit runs in from the other end, and though the batsmen get some bat to every ball, their timing is a fraction out throughout. Three runs come from the first two balls, and none thereafter.
2.06pm BST
Kumar bowls, and De Kock tucks the first ball into the off side and runs a couple. A settler, but he never looks very happy and pretty rapidly is permanently unsettled one bottom edge flies past Dhoni and away for four, and the next ball is his last. The decision is very mildly controversial it looked and sounded like very slight contact to me. "Not joking when I say this, but a lot of us Indians are at a terrible unease looking at the prospects of yet another India - Sri Lanka encounter," writes Achyuta Pitale. "Surely that must be the 3546th time these two are meeting in the last 6 months. So to be honest, at the risk of being shocking, I (an honest Indian cricket fan) hope South Africa wins this today." Crikey. Probably a good toss to win, that one. Anyone's game.
2.03pm BST
De Kock looks displeased about that, but there was a sound as the ball flew past the bat, and up goes the finger!
1.54pm BST
We're mid-anthems already. The Sky chaps are pretty confident about the rain holding off, so with crossed fingers and flaying bats, let's play!
1.49pm BST
And this is what the Bangladesh Meteorological Department has to say about things. Not entirely promising.
1.45pm BST
If you type "Dhaka weather forecast" into Google, this is what you get:
1.37pm BST
Du Plessis, who says his side is unchanged but presumably he has returned, and presumably Behardein has made way. "It looks like a good deck," he says. "Not really tempted to play another spinner, because five of their top seven is a left-hander. We backed our pace. We've been playing more fighting cricket than good cricket, but against England we did a lot of good things right, so hopefully tonight we can put in a good performance.
Dhoni says he'd also have chosen to bat. India's team is unchanged. "We've been playing good, consistent cricket. Initially we dropped a few catches but we've got better on that. You have to play good cricket
1.33pm BST
South Africa have won the toss and will bat first. Team news to follow very shortly.
1.00pm BST
Simon will be here from 1.30pm. In the meantime, you can read up in the other semi-final here:
Hail Lasith Malinga, captain marvel. Under his leadership the Sri Lankans have reached the final of the World Twenty20 again and to do that they have had to defend two modest totals in consecutive matches.
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