Leading the Indian team in the maiden ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final, Virat Kohli has now become the only player in the world to feature in all major finals of ICC events. Kohli had to wait to achieve the feat as the first day’s play was washed out at Southampton. It was on Saturday that Kohli added another feather to his decorated cap.
The illustrious journey started for Kohli when he featured in the ICC ODI World Cup in 2011 under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. Team India went on to lift the World Cup, bringing an end to the long and gruelling wait by defeating Sri Lanka in the final.
Two years later, Kohli was a part of the Indian team that defeated England in the ICC Champions Trophy final, once again under the captaincy of Dhoni. Kohli was even the top-scoring batsman for India in the match, scoring 43 runs from 34 balls.
Having not been a part of the 2007 World T20, Kohli got the opportunity to feature in the ICC World T20 final for India in 2014. The Men in Blue were defeated by Sri Lanka in a low-scoring final, with Kohli once again being India’s top-scoring batsman. He scored 77 runs from 58 balls but India failed to defend 131 on board.
As Dhoni stepped down from the captaincy position, Kohli led the Indian team in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy final. The Indian team reached the final where they locked horns with arch-rivals Pakistan. Sarfaraz Ahmed & Co. got the better of the Indian team, preventing Kohli from lifting his first ICC title as the skipper of the national team.
Until then both Kohli and Dhoni had featured in the finals of all major ICC events. With Dhoni deciding to quit international cricket in 2020, Kohli became the only active player with such an achievement to his name.
