Srinagar: The chasemaster Virat Kohli did it once again as India finally overcome Australia ghost to cruise into the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final.
Thanks to Virat Kohli’s brilliant knock of 84, India chased target of 265 with 11 deliveries in spare.
During his knock of 84 from 98 balls, Virat Kohli shattered multiple records.
Kohli, surpassed the 8000-run mark in ODI run-chases. He took 159 innings to achieve the milestone and now is the second batter in the sport’s history to have more than this many runs while chasing in the 50-over format. Sachin Tendulkar leads the charts for most runs in chases as the Master Blaster has 8720 runs to his name in 232 innings. Rohit Sharma is at the third spot on the list with 6115 runs. Kohli is the fastest to 8000 runs during run-chases, beating Tendulkar by a significant margin.
Kohli reached the milestone when he scored his 21st run. Out of his 51 ODI tons, 28 have come while chasing for Kohli.
During his innings against Australia, Kohli also surpassed Shikhar Dhawan in having the most runs for India in the Champions Trophy. Chris Gayle is the leading run-scorer in the Champions Trophy with 791 runs.
The former India captain also surpassed Tendulkar in having the most half-centuries in ICC ODI events as well. Kohli scored his 24th fifty-plus score in the Champions Trophy semi-final against Australia.
Kohli also has the most centuries while chasing in ODIs. The second spot belongs to Tendulkar, who has 17 tons to his name. It needs to be mentioned that more than 70 per cent of Kohli’s runs in chases have resulted in victories, which happens to be the highest for any batter in the format. Meanwhile, Sharma has 16 centuries in run chases.
Earlier chasing 265 against Australia, India lost Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill early. Spinner Cooper Connolly dismissed Rohit, while Ben Dwarshius bowled Gill.
Kohli and Shreyas Iyer then revived India’s innings by putting on 91 runs for the third wicket. However, Adam Zampa ended Shreyas Iyer’s 45-run knock in the 27th over. Kohli was looking set for his 83rd international century; however, this was not to be as he lost his wicket in trying to go big off the bowling of Adam Zampa.
Earlier, Australia were bowled out for 264 after opting to bat first. Steve Smith scored 79, while Alex Carey played a knock of 61. Mohammed Shami scalped three wickets for India, while Varun Chakaravarthy and Ravindra Jadeja took two each.