Kohli lets his bat do the talking

The night before India knocked Australia out of the World T20 with a six-wicket victory, Mitchell Johnson tweeted a 'missing person' announcement of sorts in relation to Virat Kohli.

Well, in case Johnson – or anyone else in the world for that matter – was worried about Kohli's whereabouts after the host country's last-over victory, he was the man being cheered wildly by fans at IS Bindra Stadium after compiling a masterful 82no off 51 balls to send Australia packing.

After Kohli said in his pre-match press conference yesterday that he was looking forward to fighting fire with fire with the Australians in their virtual quarter-final match and that the combative nature of his battles against Darren Lehmann's men "motivates him more", Johnson suggested otherwise via Twitter.

Chasing Australia's imposing 7-328 at the SCG in the World Cup semi-final last year, a tournament Australia went on to win, Kohli was out for just one after top-edging a Johnson delivery to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.

However, even Johnson had to concede after tonight's match the Indian superstar was the difference between the sides.

Kohli has now played nine T20 internationals against Australia, amassing an unbelievable 401 runs at 66.83 with a strike rate of 144.8.

Indian skipper MS Dhoni, who finished the run chase with Kohli in a frenzy in front of delirious fans, paid tribute to his teammate for his sublime knock.

"It was an incredible innings," said Dhoni.

"Especially the fact that the wicket was not easy to bat on.

"The back-of-a-length deliveries, it was quite difficult to get it away. Especially the spinners.

"The good thing was I don't think they bowled too many spinners."

Johnson, who has felt the wrath on social media from thousands of Indian fans since posting his original tweet about Kohli, also used the micro-blogging platform to pay tribute to his close friend Shane Watson, who retired after Australia's loss.

While his career ended at the hands of the brilliant Kohli, Watson was a standout for Australia, the allrounder making 18no with the bat, finishing with 2-23 with his fast-medium deliveries and snaffling a terrific diving catch when the game was still in the balance.

Unlike Johnson, Watson was certainly feeling the love on social media after his effort.

A photo posted on cricket.com.au's Facebook page of Watson enjoying time with his family around an hour after the match registered more than 100,000 'Likes' in under an hour.

Watson and Johnson, both now retired from international cricket, will play in the Indian Premier League beginning in the Twenty20 mad nation on April 9.

And just in case anyone was still concerned about his whereabouts, Kohli will also be there.