New Delhi: Virat Kohli was once again the driving force behind India’s successful run chase Sunday against Pakistan, this time at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the Champions Trophy. Although the venue and tournament changed, the high stakes and Kohli’s knack for delivering under pressure remained constant. He also became the fastest player in the world to reach 14,000 ODI runs.
Kohli scored 100 runs from 111 balls Sunday, guiding India to a snug six-wicket victory over arch rivals Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2025 Group A match at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Kohli’s innings was a landmark moment, as he notched his 51st ODI century, the most by any batter in ODI cricket and reinforced his reputation as the ‘Chase Master’. This latest achievement adds to his impressive record of batting second in ODI cricket.
With 28 centuries under his belt while chasing in ODI’s, Kohli has established himself as the most successful chaser in the 50-over format. Sachin Tendulkar’s 17 centuries while chasing in ODIs is the next best record, highlighting Kohli’s remarkable prowess in this area.
During his innings, Kohli hit 7 fours. He shared crucial partnerships of 69 runs with Shubman Gill (46) for the second wicket and 114 runs with Shreyas Iyer (56) for the third wicket. His outstanding batting performance in Match 5 of the Champions Trophy 2025 earned him the Player of the Match award.
“I think for me, I have a decent understanding of my game over the years. For me, it’s just about keeping the outside noise and the distractions away. I try to stay in my space as much as possible, really take care of how my energy levels are, what I am thinking, my thoughts, because it’s very easy for me to kind of get pulled into the expectations and the frenzy around games like these. My job is to focus on my skills and to be able to do the job for the team as much as I can,” Kohli said during the post-match presentation
“I think one of the keynotes there is, I kept telling myself on the field whenever I was feeling a bit down that I’m going to put my hundred percent on every ball that I field and sometimes I will get the rewards for the hard work that I’m putting in on the ground. So that’s why I take a lot of pride in working hard and running around the field as well.
“And yeah, when you put your head down and you work hard enough, then I think God rewards you accordingly, I’m very grateful and thankful to God,” he said.
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The many records broken by Kohli
In addition to guiding India to a convincing victory in Dubai and bolstering their semi-final hopes, Kohli shattered several batting records.
Kohli became the fastest batter to reach 14,000 ODI runs Sunday. He achieved this milestone in his 287th inning, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s record, who reached the same feat in his 350th inning. Kohli is now the third batter, after Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara, to score over 14,000 runs in ODIs.
Kohli reached his half-century with a boundary off Naseem Shah’s first ball in the 27th over of the second innings as India chased 242. This was his sixth 50+ score in 15 Champions Trophy matches, tying him for the top spot alongside Shikhar Dhawan, Sourav Ganguly, and Rahul Dravid, who also have six 50+ scores in the tournament.
Kohli’s innings Sunday also saw him equal Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 23 50+ scores in ICC ODI tournaments. Tendulkar achieved this feat with 6 centuries and 15 fifties in ODI World Cups, and 1 century and 1 fifty in Champions Trophy matches. Kohli, meanwhile, has 5 centuries and 12 fifties in ODI World Cups, and 1 century and 5 fifties in 16 Champions Trophy matches.
Kohli surpassed Ricky Ponting’s record of 27,483 runs to become the third-highest run-scorer in international cricket, achieving the feat with two runs off Haris Rauf’s delivery in the 36th over. Ponting accumulated his runs in 560 matches, while Kohli has reached 27,503 runs in 547 matches for India.
Kohli dominates Pakistan
Kohli completed his 51st ODI century for India with a boundary on the third ball of the 43rd over of the run chase bowled by Khushdil Shah. The century helped Kohli extend his world record of most hundreds in the 50-over format of the game, and he also became the first Indian batter to score a century against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy. Before Kohli, the highest individual score by an Indian batter against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy was 91 by Rohit Sharma.
The century Sunday helped Virat break former Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya’s record of 189 runs and become the leading run-scorer in the Champions Trophy against Pakistan. In five Champions Trophy matches against the 2017 champions, Kohli has 224 runs to his name.
Kohli made history by becoming the first batter to score a century against Pakistan in both the Champions Trophy and ODI World Cup. While 4 batters have scored centuries against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy and 13 in the ODI World Cup, Kohli is the only one to achieve this feat in both tournaments.
His inning took his total runs against Pakistan in ICC ODI tournaments to 433, the most by any batter. He has scored 224 runs in 5 Champions Trophy matches and 209 runs in 4 ODI World Cup matches, surpassing Rohit Sharma’s record of 370 runs.
In addition to the above-mentioned batting records, Kohli also became India’s most successful fielder in ODIs Sunday. By taking Naseem Shah’s catch on the fourth ball of the 47th over of the Pakistani innings bowled by Kuldeep Yadav, Kohli extended his tally of catches in ODIs to 157, which is one more than Mohammad Azharuddin’s record of 156 catches in 334 ODIs. Only Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene (218) and Australia’s Ponting (160) have completed more catches than him in the 50-over format of the game now.
Kohli won his 5th Player of the Match award against Pakistan in ICC tournaments Sunday. No other player has won more than three POTM awards against a single opponent in ICC tournaments.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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