5 memorable ODI triumphs under Virat Kohli’s captaincy

On Wednesday, December 8, Rohit Sharma was named India’s full-time ODI and T20I captain by BCCI. It means Virat Kohli’s tenure as limited-overs skipper of the Indian Cricket Team came to an end. He led the side in 95 ODI games and won 65 of them and as a full-time captain, he led the side in 78 games and won 51 of them.

He took over the full-time ODI captaincy from MS Dhoni in 2017. He had an impressive record as captain in ODIs, which included appearances in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy and the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup, but an ICC title remained a dream.

Not winning an ICC title remained a void but Kohli had an amazing run as a captain, he had a phenomenal record that will be cherished forever.

Here are five such memorable victories under Kohli’s captaincy:

5. India chased 351 in Pune against England in 2017

On 15th January 2017, it was Kohli’s first game as a full-time ODI captain. England showed their class at the MCA Stadium in Pune but still, they were outgunned. They posted 350 on the board with Joe Root, Jason Roy and Ben Stokes scoring 78, 73 and 62 respectively and on any pitch for 50-over cricket, it was a winning total.

India started their innings and lost wickets in quick succession, they were 63-4 at one moment. England thought that they are winning the game very easily but Kohli and Kedar Jadhav had other plans. The captain led from the front and top-scored for India, as he scored 122 off 105 and balls and ensured India a victory. Jadhav also batted beautifully scoring 120 off 76 balls.

This chase was one of the great chases India had in its ODI history and doing it on Kohli’s first game as full-time ODI captain became more special. Five sixes came from the bat of the skipper with the first six on the fourth ball he played. This was merely one out of so many innings of Captain Kohli which was highly praised.