Virat Kohli is hurting India at the 2026 T20 World Cup – or rather, his absence is

India misses Virat Kohli’s chasing masterclass: The India National Cricket Team has suffered its first defeat after a 12-match winning streak at the T20 World Cups. The Men in Blue lost their first match after 17 matches in ICC competitions by 76 runs against South Africa at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.

Suryakumar Yadav’s side were bowled out for 111 runs while chasing a huge target of 188 runs. South Africa got revenge in the 2024 T20 World Cup final as India clinched their second title, beating the Proteas in Barbados. India have chased over 160 targets three times in the history of the T20 World Cup.

Statistics from the T20 World Cup reveal India’s over-reliance on Virat Kohli

The record run chase came back in 2014 against the same opponent, with 173 runs at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, Dhaka. The other two were against Australia in 2016, and the last was against Pakistan. In all three of these cases, it was Virat Kohli who was named player of the match.

This showed why Virat Kohli has been the biggest chaser and has always performed under pressure for India. During the 2022 T20 World Cup against Pakistan, India were 31/4 while chasing 160 runs. It was Kohli’s masterclass at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia, where he led India’s historic victory against their arch-rivals.

Whenever India chased 150+ in the T20 World Cup, one name resonated louder than the rest – Virat Kohli 👑#T20World Cup #ViratKohli #IndianCricket #InsideSport #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/3evinLSNZS

— InsideSport (@InsideSportIND) February 22, 2026

Kohli has scored fifty-plus three times in these three matches, and all of them have been unbeaten knocks. In 2014 against the Proteas it was a knock of 72 runs, in 2016 against Australia in Nagpur it was 82*, and against Pakistan it was also the same score of 82*.

Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav have not filled the Virat Kohli void

Firstly, it was Suryakumar Yadav who filled Virat Kohli’s position. However, during the South African tour, Tilak Varma was ranked at number 3 despite the latter scoring runs in the bilateral series; the pressure for a World Cup was different.

It takes a lot more responsibility to score runs under pressure. So far, Tilak has failed to fill Kohli’s void as the latter has always taken responsibility at that position and single-handedly won games for India from difficult circumstances.

Virat Kohli T20 World Cup Stats

Kohli holds the record of 67.58 average in a victorious T20I chase in the T20 World Cups. In his five editions of T20 World Cups, he has been dismissed only once while chasing in a T20I. The name ‘Chase Master’ in ODI and T20I is not without reason.

From critical situations like 2/3, Kohli has taken India home in the white-ball format of the game. In the 2024 T20 World Cup final there was a similar position as last night with 34/3 against the same opposition, South Africa. A knock of 76 off 59 balls helped India post a target of 176/7 in their 20 overs.

Kohli was a big player for the side until the final where he failed to score a single fifty in the competition. This has been one of the reasons he has been India’s ‘crisis’ man in the white-ball format.

Also read: Abhishek Sharma gets axed!! Pakistan star campaigns for Samson, Gill, Iyer and Jaiswal’s T20I squad