How Virat Kohli's Brilliance Powered India Past Australia at the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy

India produced a composed and confident performance to defeat Australia in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy on Tuesday, 4 March, in Dubai. The victory sent India into the final, which they also won — claiming their third Champions Trophy title and becoming the first team to go through an entire Champions Trophy without losing a single match.

The ICC Champions Trophy is a major one-day international (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport's global governing body. It is held every four years and brings together the top cricketing nations. India had previously won the tournament in 2002 and 2013, so this 2025 triumph completed a hat-trick of titles for them.

In the match against Australia, the Australians batted first at the Dubai International Stadium and posted a total of 264 runs. Steve Smith, Australia's experienced middle-order batter, contributed 73 runs, while wicket-keeper batter Alex Carey added 61. For India, fast bowler Mohammed Shami was the standout performer with the ball, taking three wickets to help restrict Australia to a chaseable score.

India's run chase — meaning the task of scoring the required runs to win after the opposition has batted — got off to a rocky start. India lost two wickets cheaply, slipping to 43 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. That kind of early trouble can derail an entire innings, putting pressure on the batters who follow. But Virat Kohli, one of India's most celebrated batters, stepped up to steady the ship.

Kohli scored 84 runs and formed a key partnership with Shreyas Iyer, who contributed 45 runs. Once that foundation was laid, KL Rahul — playing in an unusual role as a wicket-keeper batter in this tournament — finished the job with an unbeaten 42 runs, guiding India to victory with 11 balls to spare. An unbeaten score means the batter was not dismissed and was still at the crease when the winning run was scored.

After the match, Nasser Hussain — a former England Test captain who is now one of the most respected cricket commentators on Sky Sports — heaped praise on India. Speaking on air, Hussain said India's success boiled down to one man: "They have got the best chaser in the history of the game. Virat Kohli." He also credited the depth of India's squad, noting their skilled spin-bowling all-rounders, aggressive power-play batters, and the contributions of KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya.

The numbers behind Kohli's performance make Hussain's praise easy to understand. During this match, Kohli became the first cricketer ever to score 1,000 runs in ICC knockout matches across all formats of the game — meaning across ODIs, T20 Internationals, and Test matches combined. He also crossed 8,000 runs in ODI run chases, a milestone previously achieved only by the legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar.

India carried that momentum into the final, where they beat New Zealand by four wickets to lift the trophy. Captain Rohit Sharma was named Player of the Match in the final after scoring 76 runs off 83 balls. Throughout the tournament, Shreyas Iyer was India's top run-scorer, accumulating 243 runs from five games. Hussain was so impressed by India's collective performance that he included five Indian players in his Team of the Tournament — his personal selection of the best players from across the competition.

Hussain had actually backed India before the semi-final too, pointing out that India's familiarity with the Dubai International Stadium — having played there regularly during their home-away arrangement — gave them a key edge over opponents less accustomed to the conditions. That prediction proved correct, and India's unbeaten run through the tournament has cemented this squad's place among the great Indian cricket teams.