Year-ender: Virat Kohli regains his Midas touch in 2025
What's the story
Star Indian batter Virat Kohli is back to his best in international cricket. Despite failing to deliver in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the start of 2025, Kohli regained his Midas touch in ODIs. After winning the ICC Champions Trophy and the Indian Premier League (IPL), the 37-year-old announced his Test retirement. Kohli has been on a run-scoring spree in ODI cricket ever since.
Run
How Kohli fared this year
Kohli started the year with the SCG Test against Australia. He scored just 23 runs in his final appearance in the format. Kohli then bounced back with a half-century in the England ODI series. After a successful Champions Trophy, the Indian batter bagged successive ducks against Australia. However, he gained redemption in Sydney. The following ODI series against South Africa channelled his beast mode.
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Most ODI runs for India in 2025
Kohli finished as India's highest run-scorer in ODIs this year. In 13 games, he racked up 651 runs at an incredible average of 65.10. His tally includes 3 tons, 4 half-centuries, and a strike rate of 96.15.
Champions Trophy
Record ton against Pakistan
The first of his three tons in 2025 came in the high-voltage Champions Trophy clash against Pakistan. He hammered a record-extending 51st ODI ton (100*) as India beat Pakistan by six wickets in Dubai. With this, Kohli also raced to 14,000 runs in the format. He remains the fastest to this milestone (299 matches and 287 innings).
Australia
Successive ducks in ODIs
In a first, Kohli recorded successive ducks in ODI cricket. The 2nd ODI between Australia and India at Adelaide Oval saw Kohli depart for a four-ball duck. In the series opener in Perth, the star batter recorded his first-ever ODI duck Down Under. Although India lost the three-match series against Australia, Kohli scored an unbeaten 74 in Sydney to regain his form.
South Africa
Three successive 50-plus scores
Kohli lit up the three-match ODI series against South Africa at home with successive 50-plus scores. He powered India with centuries in the first two ODIs (135 in Ranchi and 102 in Raipur). Although India lost the 2nd ODI, Kohli's blistering 65* made a mark in a run-chase of 271 in Vizag. He had a strike rate of 117.05 in three games.
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300-plus runs in a three-match series
According to ESPNcricinfo, Kohli became the second Indian to score over 300 runs in a bilateral ODI series comprising three matches. He joined Shubman Gill, who hammered 360 runs from three innings against New Zealand in 2023.
Records
Records Kohli broke in 2025
Kohli now owns 53 ODI hundreds, the most for any player in a single format. Earlier this year, he became the second-highest run-getter in ODIs, having displaced Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara. The batter has now raced to 14,557 runs from 308 games at an average of over 58. Kohli recently became only the second batter with 6,500 ODI runs at home.
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Uncanny streaks for Kohli
According to Cricbuzz, Kohli now has 13 different streaks of three-plus successive innings of 50-plus scores in ODI cricket. The next-best such streak is 11 by Rohit Sharma. He is followed by Sachin Tendulkar (10).