Virat Kohli & The ICC Knockout Matches - Does he choke in big knockout games?

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The modern-day great, the white-ball legend, the master of a run-chase and a guy who score runs for fun as if it is a daily routine for him and in the process he fails in 2-3 knockout games & all of a sudden a lot of people start questioning his calibre & his potential. A lot of people start abusing him and his family. Is this the right thing to do? Does he even choke in ICC knockout games?

A lot of people without knowing a lot of things start uttering shits that India lost the 2015 and 2019 world cup and 2017 Champions Trophy because of Virat Kohli. For your information, in the run chase of 329 against Australia in the semi final of 2015 world cup, Virat Kohli got out after just scoring 1 run. Also in the run chases of 2017 Champions Trophy final & 2019 World Cup semi final Virat Kohli got out on the scores of 5 and 1 respectively. Those numbers are definitely not good. But  a lot of people start judging him on the basis of these scores only. Are these the only knockout games he has played?

Not everyone remembers the following innings which he has played in the ICC knockout games:

  1. ICC WC 2011 Final - v/s Sri Lanka - 35 off 49 deliveries
  2. ICC CT 2013 Semi Final - v/s Sri Lanka - 58* off 64 deliveries
  3. ICC CT 2013 Final - v/s England - 43 off 34 deliveries
  4. ICC T-20 WC 2014 Semi Final - v/s South Africa - 72* off 44 deliveries
  5. ICC T-20 WC 2014 Final - v/s Sri Lanka - 77 off 58 deliveries
  6. ICC T-20 WC 2016 Semi Final - v/s West Indies - 89* off 47 deliveries
  7. ICC CT 2017 Semi Final - v/s Bangladesh - 96* off 78 deliveries
  8. Apart from all these innings Virat also scored a magnificent 82* off 51 deliveries against Australia in ICC T20 World Cup group match in 2016. Not many of you will remember but that too was a knockout game for India if they had to qualify for semi finals.
(WC - World Cup; CT - Champions Trophy)


Out of the above mentioned innings,  Virat was the highest scorer for the Indian team on 5 out of 8 occasions (excluding 2011 WC final, 2013 CT semifinal and 2017 CT semi final)
A lot of people will still say that he panics in the run chases on the bigger occasions. So here is the answer for them too. The innings against South Africa in 2014 T-20 WC semi final & the innings against Australia in 2016 T-20 WC came in a run chase. Also the innings in the 2017 CT semi final was equally important as the total was decent to chase but he along with Rohit Sharma made the chase look easy.

But the question is still the same, does he choke in big games? For me, the answer is NO. The guy who performs so consistently even in big games, will also have an off day. We, as viewers, need to understand that he can't perform in every game and we are required to support him when he doesn't perform. Yes as a senior player he is required to take more responsibilities but it's ok if he fail sometimes as failure is a part and parcel of life.

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