Chase master Virat Kohli set for The Ultimate Test in World Test Championship Final
India will begin the last day of the WTC Final needing 280 more runs to reach their target of 444 and complete perhaps the greatest fourth-innings run chase in Test history.
A successful fourth-innings chase in the WTC Final would smash not just the record of 262 at The Oval, but break the all-time benchmark of 418 set by the West Indies against Australia in 2003.
But with Kohli still at the crease, there remains a glimmer of hope.
Virat Kohli: 'One of the best of all-time' out to grow his reputation in The Ultimate Test | WTC23 Final
Star batter Virat Kohli revealed that he is motivated by taking India to victory ahead of the ICC World Test Championship Final 2023 against Australia
India’s star batter is renowned as the ‘chase master’ for a career filled with devastatingly decisive innings when targeting tricky totals, and revealed the role has been a key driver in his stunning return to form.
"What motivates me is knowing that the opportunity I have every game that I play for India, to make my team win,” Kohli told the ICC ahead of the WTC Final.
"I don't think in sport there is any bigger motivation than that.
"I wake up every morning of any game that I play believing that I'm going to be the guy who is going to make my team win.”
Kohli will set out on day five of the WTC Final with 44* already on the scoreboard, with Ajinkya Rahane (20*) to partner the former India skipper as they look to create history against Australia.
It is the sort of burden Kohli is not only prepared to bear, but actively seeks out.
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Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 53-ball 82* to help India secure an opening victory against Pakistan in their ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 encounter.
"I'm still as excited to be the man that helps my team when I'm batting out there,” Kohli said.
"I want my team to feel comfortable and they can breathe a sigh of relief that I'm out there and (knowing) I can do the job.
"That's something that I've always taken a lot of pride in and I feel very grateful, as I said, to be in that position where the team can expect that from me.
"I still wake up every morning believing that I can be the man for the team.”
Australia only have to look back to September last year to recall Kohli leading a successful chase in a T20I in Hyderabad, with a 48-ball 63 that helped the hosts reach 187/4 and claim the series 2-1.
Kohli has also pulled off great escapes when the stakes are at their highest at ICC events, and former England captain Nasser Hussain has seen it often enough to label the 34-year-old India batter as the clear standout in leading run chases.
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"If there is one player in world cricket that you want in a run chase in any format, it is obviously Virat Kohli,” Hussain said on the ICC’s Digital Daily after day 4 of the WTC Final.
"In run chases, in the history of the game, there is Virat Kohli, there is daylight and then there is the rest.
"He is always going to be the key man.”
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- 82* (53) v Pakistan, Melbourne, T20 World Cup 2022
- 82* (51) v Australia, Mohali, T20 World Cup 2016
- 55* (37) v Pakistan, Kolkata, T20 World Cup 2016
- 72* (44) v South Africa, Mirpur, T20 World Cup 2014
- 57* (50) v Bangladesh, Mirpur, T20 World Cup 2014
- 54 (41) v West Indies, Mirpur, T20 World Cup 2014
- 78* (61) v Pakistan, Colombo, T20 World Cup 2012
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During the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2016, Mohali was host to a Virat Kohli masterclass.