New Delhi, July 30: Virat Kohli continued his sublime form with the bat and with skipper S. Badrinath guided India XI to a five-wicket win over New Zealand XI in the crucial last league match, to reach the final of the Emerging Players tournament at the Peter Burge Oval in Brisbane on Thursday.

The win was India’s fourth of the competition and it took the team’s tally to 17 points and second place. They will face table-toppers South Africa (36), who defeated Australia by 183 runs to maintain their clean slate, in the final.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra’s four-wicket haul helped restrict the Kiwis to 246/9 before Kohli (92) and Badrinath (81) guided the Indians to 247/5 in 44.3 overs. Opting to bat, New Zealand XI got off to a decent start before Bhuvneswar Kumar (2/38) pegged them back.

Sudeep Tyagi (2/56) also dealt quick blows to halt the Kiwis’ progress before Mishra (4/44) ran through the Kiwi middle order to leave them in complete disarray. For New Zealand, Bradley-John Watling scored an unbeaten 114-ball 94.

Scores: New Zealand XI 246/9 in 50 overs (Bradley-John Watling 94, Tarun Nethula 42; Amit Mishra 4/44) lost to India XI 247/5 in 44.3 overs (Virat Kohli 92, S. Badrinath 81 n.o.)