'I was not feeling desperate': Kohli on gritty knock against Australia

Star batter Virat Kohli once again displayed why he's rated so highly in white-ball cricket, more so in big-ticket tournaments, and as the master of run-chases, with his gritty half century helping India beat Australia by four wickets in the high-pressure semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai on Tuesday.

- TRIDIB BAPARNASH

The hallmark of his innings was the amount of singles and twos that he accumulated during the 98-ball knock with only 20 of those 84 runs coming in the form of five boundaries. The other highlight of that innings was the way Kohli maturely anchored the chase, by forging partnerships with the rest of the middle order to set the tone for the likes of Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul to finish off in style for India. The 36-year-old walked into the middle by the fifth over of India's innings with the scoreboard ticking 30/1 and went on to set the platform with a 91-run partnership for the third wicket with Shreyas Iyer, followed by a 44-run fourth wicket stand with Axar Patel, and another 47-run stand for the fifth wicket with KL Rahul, to further dent Australia's hopes.