The thing about time is that it waits for nobody. From 18th August 2008 to 18th August 2025, it's been a roller coaster ride for Virat Kohli. It's been 17 years in international cricket for the legend, although this anniversary will be bitter-sweet for Kohli, as compared to last year. In 2024, at this time, he was still in the hangover of India's T20 World Cup glory, which was also the perfect farewell game for him in the shortest format alongside Rohit Sharma.
Little did Kohli know that in August 2025, he would only be left playing one format - ODIs. Coincidentally, it is the format which gave him his first break in international cricket, courtesy the tour of Sri Lanka in 2008. Kohli's international debut came as an opener, a makeshift arrangement as the think tank tried to get him into the mix. However, over the years, Kohli cemented himself as arguably the game's greatest no.3 batter in the white-ball format. In Tests, he preferred to bat at no.4, a spot that the team's best batter usually takes (remember Sachin Tendulkar?).
While Kohli and Rohit are both keen to play till the next ODI World Cup in 2027, the future isn't so clear right now. Especially with both of them on the wrong side of their 30s. That said, it is better to enjoy them till they play, instead of falling to speculations. For Kohli, form hasn't been an issue in ODIs. Even during his struggles in the COVID period, India played very little of 50-over cricket and he was in solid touch during the 2023 ODI World Cup as well. A whopping tally of 14181 ODI runs at an average of 57.88 and strike rate of 93.34 is testimony to his ODI genius and he's be keen to sign off on a high.
As we celebrate 17 years of Virat Kohli, let us look at five of his most unique records in international cricket.
1)21 Player of the Match awards - the most by any player in international cricket
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2)40 Test wins as India captain - by far the most successful among the country's leaders in the longest format
3)24 centuries in successful ODI chases - comfortably the most by any batter in the 50-over format
4)51 ODI centuries in his career - the only batter to scale the peak of 50 centuries in this format
5)Record ODI tons in a single year - he slammed 6 apiece in 2017 and 2018, equalling the joint-highest in a calendar year