Virat Kohli is a big occasion player, says MS Dhoni

Sydney, Mar 20: It has been a lull after storm for Virat Kohli in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup but his skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni stood firmly behind his deputy expressing confidence that he will come good on a big day as he is a "big occasion player".

World Cup Special; Semi-final schedule

Kohli, who had four Test hundreds in four-match Test series scored a hundred in the Cup opener against Pakistan but since then have had scores of 46, 33 no, 33, 44 no, 38 and 3 in the next six games.

Asked if it was a case of poor shot selection rather than good bowling from the opposition, Dhoni didn't agree. "I don't think poor shot selection is the case. He is a dominant batsman, he loves playing his strokes. I don't think he has batted badly at all," skipper batted for Kohli during post-match press conference after the quarter-final win over Bangladesh.

"In fact Dhoni feels that it is unfair to expect Kohli fire everytime he goes out to bat just like he did during the Test series in Australia.

"Not that he has got century everytime when he has gone out to bat but maybe we are relating to the Test series, and expect that he scores a hundred in each time he is out there in the middle," the skipper wants to put an end to this unnecessary expectations.

For Dhoni, he is happy that Kohli is "focussed on the process". "He is concentrating on process. And he is a big occasion player and would fire on a big day," the skipper added.

PTI