"The feeling you get when you have a horrible hangover" - Virat Kohli recalls India's heartbreaking World Cup knockout loss

Team India ace batter Virat Kohli recalled the gut-wrenching loss to New Zealand in the 2019 ODI World Cup, evoking feelings of apathy in the immediate aftermath. The Men in Blue fell short by 18 runs in a rain-curtailed knockout encounter that stretched across two days at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester in July 2019.

The Virat Kohli-led side entered the semi-finals as favorites after losing just one match in the group stage. A comprehensive performance with the ball helped India restrict New Zealand to 239-8. What was expected to be a routine chase, considering India's batting prowess, turned into a nightmare as Trent Boult and Matt Henry wreaked havoc with the new ball.

Kohli was trapped LBW for just one run, leaving India tottering at 5-3 in no time. The collapse continued, and India looked lost at 92-6 in the 31st over. The lower middle-order pair of MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja scored fifties, but it did not prove to be enough.

Kohli admitted that he was 'completely gone' after the match, which prolonged India's silverware drought and knockout crisis.

"After the semi-final got over, and the next morning we were going to leave Manchester. You know, when you wake up and you have no kind of understanding of what you want to do, like you are dazed. It was like the feeling you get when you have a horrible hangover. I had no idea whether I wanted to drink coffee, brush my teeth, like what is the next step? I was completely gone," Virat Kohli said on the RCB Podcast.

It was the fourth time that Team India were knocked out in the semi-final stage of the ODI World Cup. The Men in Blue had endured the same fate in the previous edition in 2015 as well, after being knocked out by eventual winners, Australia.

"They are still trying to figure out how to play this format" - Kohli feels youngsters are struggling to succeed in ODI cricket

ODI cricket is currently struggling to find a place amongst franchise cricket, T20 Internationals, and Test cricket. The 50-over format is revered when it comes to ICC events, with those trophies still carrying significant weight. But, outside of that, there is marginal interest worldwide for bilateral series, largely because of not much being at stake, and the fact that people prefer the action-packed shortest format.

Kohli opined that the emerging batters tend to struggle when they do not have access to flat pitches in ODI cricket, as they are not used to constructing an innings.

"I've seen with the players coming up, they are still trying to figure out how to play this format. They have gotten so used to flat pitches and just wanting to hit the ball. People are also getting used to watching the slam bang, hit the ball for sixes and fours all the time, that the high pressure games they are only engaged in Champions Trophy or the World Cup, outside of that, they do not have patience for it. To make one-day matches exciting, we have been making flat pitches," Kohli explained.

Team India's last ODI was the 2025 Champions Trophy Final in March, and their next match in the format is in the form of an away series against Bangladesh in August.