Virat Kohli masterminded yet another chase for India taking down the target of 265 set by Australia in the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on Tuesday. Coming early in the fifth over after Shubman Gill fell early to Ben Dwarshuis, Kohli scored 84 runs in 98 balls with five fours and got out in the 43rd over with the team in a comfortable position. India chased down the target in the 49th over with KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja guiding the team to the final. Known for his impeccable approach during run chases, Virat focused on rotating the strike during the middle overs against Australia spinners Adam Zampa, Cooper Connolly, and Tanveer Sangha. Kohli took 56 singles in his innings, which made up 67% of his total score of 84. He played 33 dot balls from the 98 balls he played, scoring on 65 balls. He was involved in three major partnerships: Shreyas Iyer (91 runs from 111 balls), Axar Patel (44 runs from 52 balls), and KL Rahul (47 runs from 46 balls). Incredibly, as per the statistic showed by the broadcast, with 56 singles Kohli extended his lead for taking the most runs via ones in ODIs since January 2000. He tops the list with 5,870 singles followed by Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka with 5,688. The chase was built on the strike rotation during the middle overs against the spinners as Kohli led from the front. Here is a breakdown of how Kohli approached the chase and each partnership: Kohli scored 84 runs in 98 balls with 56 singles, 4 doubles, and 5 fours. He took 47 singles in the middle overs (11-40 overs), five singles in the first powerplay (1-10 overs), and four singles in the last powerplay before getting dismissed. Kohli and Iyer: After Rohit Sharma got out to Connolly in the 8th over, Kohli along with Iyer stitched a 91-run partnership for the third wicket. It was a hard-working partnership with both players running a total of 51 singles (Kohli 24 and Shreyas 27) in the 111-ball partnership constantly rotating the strike. Kohli and Axar: For the fourth-wicket partnership, Kohli and Axar made 44 runs in 52 balls. The duo ran a total of 24 singles with Kohli (13 singles) rotating the strike and Axar scoring a couple of crucial boundaries. Kohli and Rahul: KL Rahul and Kohli stitched a total of 47 runs in 46 balls with Kohli again taking the anchor role and rotating the strike while Rahul went after the bowlers hitting two fours and one six.
