Rohit Sharma has led India’s charge into the ICC T20 World Cup final with his role as the team’s leader on the field and with the bat, but it is their former captain Virat Kohli who remains in the spotlight, albeit for different reasons.
The 35-year-old, who has has played in 529 matches for India since his debut in 2008 and scored nearly 29,000 runs across all formats, has been a shadow of himself during this tournament.
Kohli finds himself in an unusual scenario, with his place in the Indian team in question. India’s second highest run-scorer in T20 internationals [110 runs behind leading scorer Rohit], has only managed 75 runs in his seven innings in the tournament, with a top score of 37 against Bangladesh.
While his place in India’s line-up for the final will not be under any doubt, it remains to be seen if the match and, indeed, the final could be his last hurrah in an ICC Cricket World Cup.
Kohli’s brilliance has dragged India from despair to elation on countless occasions. Now, with one of the game’s greatest ever batters facing a lean patch, can his teammates return the favour on Saturday?
We take a look back at five of his finest limited-over moments on the global stage that cemented his image an icon of the game:
2011: Kohli and India’s Cricket World Cup triumph
Three years after his international debut against Sri Lanka in a one-day international (ODI), Kohli was a 50-over Cricket World Cup winner with India at the 2011 tournament on home soil. The then-22-year-old Kohli lined up alongside Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and, the top scorer in the final against Sri Lanka with 97, Gautam Gambhir.
Kohli only managed cameos in the knock-out stages and final of the competition but scored 59 in the final group stage match against the West Indies in a stand of 123 with Yuvraj Singh for the third wicket. He also started the tournament with an unbeaten 100 off 83 balls against Bangladesh as India posted 370-4 in an 84-run win to open the tournament.
2012: The emergence of a limited-overs genius
A year after the World Cup win, Kohli’s status as the new superstar of Indian cricket was confirmed with an innings that made the world sit up and take note. In a tri-nation ODI series in Australia, which also included Sri Lanka, India were struggling to post big totals. With his team on the verge of elimination from the tri-series in Australia, Kohli walked out with India 86-2 in the tenth over and needing to chase down their target of 321 inside 40 overs to keep alive their hopes of making the final. The right-hander took apart the Sri Lankan attack including Lasith Malinga, whom he struck for 24 runs in an over, and finished unbeaten on 133 as India chased down the target in 36.4 overs.
2012: Mirpur miracle against Pakistan
Fresh from his heroics against Sri Lanka, Kohli played an innings of similar brilliance. The man who was building a reputation as a run-chase maestro reached his ODI score (183) against arch rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2012. India were set a target of 330 following centuries from Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed. When Kohli walked out to bat, India were one wicket down in the first over in the face of the stiff target. Undeterred by the challenge, Kohli proceeded to smash 183 off 148 balls in an effort that included consecutive century stands with Tendulkar (52) and Rohit Sharma (68) and took India home in front of a packed Mirpur stadium in Bangladesh.
2014: Kohli rules T20 World Cup
Ten years ago, in what was Kohli’s greatest ever run in a T20 World Cup, South Africa had India in trouble in the last semifinal in Bangladesh. The Proteas had never been defeated when defending a score of 170, but Kohli had other plans as he hit an unbeaten 74 off 42 deliveries to shatter South African dreams and dismantle a mighty powerful bowling attack. The 319 runs he amassed in the 2014 edition remain a record by any batter in a T20 World Cup but, sadly for Kohli and India, they were not enough as Sri Lanka claimed their first T20 title with a six-wicket win in the final.
2022: A Kohli special stuns Pakistan
Kohli was a thorn in Pakistan’s side once again, as he opened India’s T20 World Cup 2022 with one of the most spectacular turnarounds in format’s history. Having been set 160 to win, India were facing a grim defeat at 31-4 after 6.1 overs until Kohli took matters into his own hands. He hit an unbeaten 82 off 53 balls in a scarcely believable innings. With two overs to go, India were still up against it and needed 31 runs as Kohli smashed Haris Rauf for two huge sixes off the fourth and sixth balls of the final over and leave Pakistan, and all those who witnessed it, stunned.
