ICC World Cup: Virat Kohli failed when the chase mattered most

Sydney There was a time not too long ago when Virat Kohli stepping out to bat gave millions of Indian cricket fans a sense of security given the matchwinner that he is However at this World Cup the vicecaptains inconsistency with the bat would have shaken that faithAlso Readmidday analyses Team Indias ICC World Cup campaignA dejected Virat Kohli departs for one during the World Cup semifinal against Australia at the SCG yesterday PicGetty ImagesYesterday Indias dream of retaining the World Cup stumbled at the secondlast hurdle when they went down to Australia by 95 runs And while Kohli alone cannot be blamed for the defeat he did finish bottom in the scorers list with just one run to his nameAlso ReadICC World Cup Unfair to blame Anushka for Kohlis poor form GangulyWorse still he took 13 balls before he executed a failed pull shot to pacer Mitchell Johnson only to sky the ball for wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to pouchRuns drying upBesides his century against Pakistan in Indias World Cup opener the 26yearold has scores of 18 and five in the two preWorld Cup warmup matches followed by 46 against South Africa 33 not out against UAE 33 against the West Indies 44 not out versus Ireland 38 against Zimbabwe and three in the quarterfinal against BangladeshAlso ReadICC World Cup Anushkas shock at Kohlis dismissal mirrors IndiasBefore the World Cup in the triseries he managed just four and eight in the two matches against England besides a three not out against Australia Though not all the numbers here are poor they are a pale comparison when pitted against his Test match scores soon after India landed Down Under in November last yearHe scored backtoback centuries 115 amp 141 in the first Test at Adelaide followed by a massive 169 and 54 in the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and yet another ton 147 amp 46 in the fourth Test at this very ground in SydneyYesterday however he looked uncomfortable right from the start despite coming out in a notverytense situation Opener Shikhar Dhawan having belted 45 off 41 headed back while Rohit Sharma was on a steady 24 with the visitors on 761 inside 13 overs and needing another 253 off 37 at a little over six per over But Kohli seemed tentativeShort ball woesHe struggled with the short ball as well as a couple of full balls that Johnson smartly bowled with pace His nonauthoritative pushes square of the wicket and towards point seemed scratchyHe then played out a maiden 15th over by Josh Hazlewood hinting that he could be looking to hit himself out of trouble And right enough when he faced Johnson next up he did it and departed All this despite Kohli being one of Indias best chasers Fourteen of his 22 ODI tons from 151 games have resulted in successful chasesSkipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni defended his deputy at the postmatch press conference The fact is that he played a shot and it didnt pay off It happens to a lot ofbatsmenOnce the opposition puts over 300 runs on the board and with quality bowlers at some point you have to take that risk and if it pays off then all of a sudden everything changes said DhoniIt takes just one good knock to get a player of Kohlis calibre back in form and this World Cup semifinal show notwithstanding Indian cricket will be better off if Kohli gets that knock sooner than laterDid you knowSundays World Cup final between Aus and NZ will be the first title clash without an Asian team since 1987