Senior India batter Virat Kohli made 84 runs as India defeated Australia by four wickets in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy 2025. He was adjudged the Player of the Match and during the ceremony, the 36-year-old revealed the most important thing behind run-chases.
Chasing 265 runs against Australia in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy 2025, India were reduced to 43/2. They needed a strong partnership to change the tides and Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer provided exactly that. The duo stitched a 91-run partnership in Dubai to bail the team out of a difficult spot. It brought back the momentum as the Rohit Sharma-led side went on to win the match by four wickets and qualify for the final.
Kohli played a vital knock of 84 runs and that was key for India to get the job done. He most dealt in singles as the 36-year-old hit only five boundaries during his entire knock. The only time he tried to clear the ropes, Kohli got out as Ben Dwarshuis picked up a comfortable catch in the long-on region. Nevertheless, he set up the platform for KL Rahul to finish, as India went on to win the match with 11 balls remaining.
Kohli was eventually adjudged Player of the Match for his valuable knock. During the post-match presentation, the cricketer opened up on the importance of partnerships and shared his batting template. He noted that the condition and the pitch play an important role and he decides the pace his innings accordingly.
“It is about understanding the conditions and preparing my game accordingly.. just rotating strike because partnerships on this pitch are the most important thing. My only effort that day and today was to string in enough partnerships. The time that I got out, the plan was to get 20 more and try and finish it off in a couple of overs. Usually, that’s the template I follow but sometimes you can’t execute things how you want to. It’s all dependant on the conditions, the pitch tells me how the cricket needs to be played and then I just switch on and play accordingly,” Kohli said.
India have now qualified for the Champions Trophy final and will be taking on the winner of the match between South Africa and New Zealand on March 9. Dubai will host the summit clash.
