Smith resigned to Kohli's 'serious innings'

He then sought to put the Indian chase in perspective. “The wicket was sort of slow and the ball got chewed up quickly, so that was quite soft although it didn’t look too soft when Virat was hitting it. It was tough to bat in those middle overs and I thought they timed their run chase pretty well in the end, running lots of twos, hitting to the fielders in the outfield and put them under pressure. I think that’s where the game turned.”

Smith himself was the recipient of a dodgy umpiring call, ruled out caught behind off Yuvraj Singh’s first ball of the tournament when he appeared not to have nicked it. “Didn’t feel like I hit that, but that’s the game of cricket. I was given out. That was the umpire’s call, that’s it. It’s a bit disappointing, but that’s the game of cricket.

“I am not sure, he may have heard something,” Smith tactfully deflected a question on whether he was therefore surprised to see Mahendra Singh Dhoni go up in appeal. “I certainly didn’t feel anything. I was disappointed to have not kicked on. I felt pretty good batting against Pakistan. In T20 you can get a bit of momentum. It’s a little bit disappointing, but that’s the game of cricket. It’s not the first time, and won’t be the last time to happen. You have to move on.”

It turned out to be the last international appearance for Shane Watson, who had a pretty decent outing – an unbeaten 16-ball 18, the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina during a spell of 2 for 23 from four overs, and an excellent catch to get rid of Yuvraj Singh, running back from cover and throwing himself at the ball. “I thought he had a pretty good last game,” concurred Smith. “Obviously, there is no fairy tale in sports. It’s a bit disappointing but Shane gave his all like he did every game for Australia. He bowled beautifully. He looked like 25 again when he took the catch.”

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