Image: As in all the years of playing Virat Kohli has made it clear that he is the king of the cricket field / © ESPNcricinfo
The Indian Premier League 2025 season turned out to be historic, as Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their maiden title in 18 years. Virat Kohli, the person who gave his 18 years to the team, finally got to touch the coveted IPL trophy, and the emotions were seen on his face. When Josh Hazlewood bowled the 2nd ball of the 20th over, Kohli was seen in tears of joy, knowing that his team would now finally lift the trophy.
Now with the win in the IPL 2025 season, Virat Kohli has surely completed his cricketing career at just the age of 36 years. His loyalty towards RCB proved its worth, as the fans showcased immense support for the King for winning the title. Besides that, Kohli also finished this season again as the top scorer for RCB with 657 runs. Let’s have a look at how Virat has completed his cricketing journey with an IPL title.
Many fans say that Virat Kohli has won nothing under his captaincy, but only a few of them know that Kohli started his captaincy with the India Under-19 team. Playing in the 2008 Under-19 World Cup, the young Virat led the Indian team to win the title by defeating South Africa Under-19 by 12 runs in the finals.
A youngster who started his journey with a title win as a captain surely had a lot of things coming, which the selectors also knew. It should also be noted that India Under-19 went undefeated in the entire tournament under Virat Kohli. He was also among the top scorers of the tournament, with 235 runs in 6 innings at an average of 47.
With his prolific performances at the Under-19 stage and also for the Indian team in the international formats, Kohli became a part of the World Cup squad in 2011. Team India also went on to win the World Cup after 28 years, as a young Kohli got his first international trophy in the form of the World Cup.
He scored 282 runs in the 9 matches he played, which also included a century against Bangladesh. After winning the World Cup in 2011, Kohli also lifted Sachin Tendulkar on his shoulders, telling the fans that the legacy of Cricket’s God will now be carried over by him for the Indian cricket team, leading it to new heights.
The White Coat has been awarded to Virat Kohli not once but twice in his cricketing career till now, with the King also being the top scorer for India when it comes to the Champions Trophy. He has been a part of the team for two title wins, in 2013 and 2025, respectively, while he also led India to the finals in 2017.
Under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India won the 2013 Champions Trophy by defeating England in the rain-affected finals. Virat Kohli also played a crucial knock in the final match, and ended the campaign of the Champions Trophy, scoring 176 runs in 5 matches at an average of 58.66, showcasing the challenges faced by the bowlers to take his wicket.
Being the pinnacle of the Indian batting line-up, he also continued his dominance in the recent Champions Trophy under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma. Virat Kohli was among the top scorers list, with 218 runs in 5 matches at an average of 54.50, including a century against Pakistan, and a much-needed half-century against Australia in the semi-finals.
Virat Kohli ended his T20I career on a high note with multiple records to his name, including the T20 World Cup. He has been the top scorer for the Indian team across various T20 World Cups but he never got the chance to lift the trophy until 2024. Under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, Kohli led India to a stellar win by defeating South Africa in the finals.
Virat Kohli didn’t perform well throughout the campaign, but he saved his best for the last, scoring 76 runs in the final match and also getting the POTM award. He ended the campaign with 151 runs in 8 matches, but he still remains the top scorer in the T20 World Cup history, with 1292 runs in 35 matches at an average of 58.72, with 15 half-centuries.
King Kohli also achieved various feats for the Indian cricket team under his Test captaincy, being the best Indian Captain in the biggest format of the game. He led the team to 40 wins in just 68 Test matches, also giving his prime years to this format, which eventually helped him to lead the Indian team to win the Test Mace consecutively from 2017 to 2019.
Besides all that, he was the only captain under whom India was able to dominate in the overseas Test matches, also winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. He was also the top scorer for the Indian team in all of the Test Mace wins, scoring a total of 7868 runs in three Test Mace wins combined.
The only thing that the King Kohli wanted to achieve was the IPL trophy, to end the jinx with Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Finally, he was able to end the same in the current season, as RCB defeated PBKS in the final match by 6 runs, ending their long-awaited trophy wait, and Virat Kohli added another title to his galore.
He ended the current IPL campaign also on a high note, scoring 657 runs in 15 matches as the team’s top scorer, and also smashed the highest number of half-centuries (8) this season. His consistency even after retirement from the T20I format shows why he is still labelled as the King of Indian cricket across every format.
With Virat Kohli having achieved every milestone in his cricketing career, he is now looking forward to ending it on a positive note after winning the 2027 World Cup.