Champions Trophy: Can Virat achieve his quest for his 1st Champions Trophy century?

We all love and follow the cricket legends that the Indian team is famed for producing. Virat Kohli is one of the greatest cricketing legends of the contemporary period. He has amassed 81 hundreds and more than 27,000 runs over his illustrious career as one of the world’s best batters.

But Virat Kohli hasn’t been playing at his best lately, and this is probably the end of his cricket career. Throughout 2024 and the beginning of the 2025 season, the 36-year-old cricket player has experienced a run of poor performances. One of the competitions where he will look to regain his form and demonstrate to the world that he still has the drive and enthusiasm to score runs and have another successful ICC event, as he has done in the past, will be the Champions Trophy. He will have the chance to accomplish a goal at the ICC event that he has surprisingly failed to do in the Champions Trophy.

Undoubtedly, Virat Kohli’s name always comes to mind while discussing hundreds, particularly in the One-Day International (ODI) format, where he has amassed the most hundreds in international cricket. Virat has amassed 529 runs at an average of 88.16 from 13 games played in the Champions Trophy, but he has yet to get a century. His highest score to date was 96, which he scored against Bangladesh in the 2017 season.

Throughout the years, Virat Kohli’s Champions Trophy campaigns

2009: Still in his early career, Virat participated in his first Champions Trophy match, which was hosted by South Africa. Due to the game being washed out, the Delhi-born hitter was unable to bat against Australia after being dismissed for just 16 runs against Pakistan. Even though Kohli scored a fantastic 79 against the West Indies to close the tournament, India was unable to qualify for the playoffs, making it a sad event. Virat ended up scoring 95 runs in the two innings he played, making him the team’s top scorer.

2013: The Indian team had a good tournament at the 2013 Champions Trophy in England and Wales, winning their second Champions Trophy championship in 11 years. By this point, Virat Kohli was already a well-known figure on the Indian team. He made some significant tournament knocks despite it not being the most productive season, including a half-century against Sri Lanka in the semi-final and a forty-three against England in the finals. With 176 runs at an average of 58.66, Virat Kohli finished third in the competition for India.

2017: The Indian squad had another successful season in the event, and Virat had several outstanding knocks while still falling short of the three-figure barrier. He achieved three scores of 50 or more against Bangladesh, South Africa, and Pakistan, and was among the runs once more. India ultimately lost the finals to their bitter rivals, Pakistan, although coming extremely close to defending their crown. Over five games, Kohli amassed 258 runs at an average of 129.

This is the tale thus far of the India star in the Champions Trophy, and even though he hasn’t been playing at his best right now, we can still have faith that he will get back on track, contribute significantly to the team, and ultimately win his fourth ICC championship. It would be wonderful to watch the stalwart bat against the opposition, similar to his 2017 Champions Trophy innings, ahead of the crucial India vs. Pakistan match.