Master of the chase aces Oz, takes India into final

Virat Kohli scores 84 in a composed batting show after Shami's 3/48 restricts Australia to 264 in the CT semi-final

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DUBAI: Of Virat Kohli's 51 ODI hundreds, 28 have come in a run-chase. In 21 of them, Kohli has taken India past the finish line. On Tuesday, he couldn't finish off the chase, statistically speaking. His 84 (98b, 5x4) though was as good as a hundred as modern cricket's ultimate chase master anchored yet another time to take India into the Champions Trophy final.

India restricted Australia to 264 after they elected to bat and chased it down in 48.1 overs at the Dubai International Stadium. They await the winners of the second semi-final between New Zealand and South Africa in Lahore on Wednesday with the final to be played in Dubai on Sunday.

Chasing 265 on a slow wicket can prove trickier than making short work of 365 on a batter-friendly pitch. At what stage does Kohli shift gears? When the third wicket was lost in the 26th over after Shreyas Iyer, India's most proficient batter of spin bowling, goes with half the target still left to be achieved? Or when they lost their left-handed floater Axar Patel in the 35th over with run-a-ball still required? As it turned out, he never needed to.

Kohli knows the best. He almost operates like a supercomputer in ODI run chases, who weighs risk-reward better than most others. Give him a big stage, give him a pressure situation and he thrives.