Birthday boy Virat Kohli picks his best ODI knock and it is not even a half-century

Virat Kohli turned 38 on November 5 and, in a bracket-style challenge released on the occasion, named his 43 against England in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy final at Edgbaston as his greatest ODI innings. The pick drew attention because Kohli holds the record for the most ODI centuries by any batter, with 55 hundreds in the format, yet his personal favourite is a knock that did not even reach fifty.

The 2013 Champions Trophy final innings that Kohli rated above all others

Star Sports released the video as part of a segment titled 'Winner Stays On', in which Kohli was asked to choose between his own innings across multiple rounds. The challenge was published during India's ongoing five-match ODI series against New Zealand, adding a timely backdrop to the birthday feature.

The context of that 2013 Champions Trophy final explains the choice. India were in serious trouble at 66 for 5 in a rain-curtailed 20-over match but Kohli added 43 off 34 balls, hitting 4 fours and 1 six, and top-scored for India, who finished on 129 for 7. He added 47 runs for the sixth wicket alongside Ravindra Jadeja, who contributed 33. Jadeja also claimed two crucial wickets with the ball, and India won the final by five runs against hosts England.

In the earlier rounds of the bracket, Kohli first chose his 35 in the 2011 World Cup final in Mumbai over his 133 not out against Sri Lanka in Hobart in 2012. His reasoning for picking the smaller score was that India had lost two early wickets in the chase before he arrived at the crease.

During that World Cup final innings, Kohli added 83 runs for the third wicket with Gautam Gambhir, who went on to score 97. India claimed the title that day after a 28-year wait. After Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag had departed early in the run-chase, Kohli's partnership with Gambhir became imperative in order to settle the nerves in the Indian camp.

The bracket path: knocks Kohli passed over on the way to his final pick

In subsequent rounds, Kohli was offered his 85 against Australia in Chennai in 2013 and his 122 against England in Pune in 2017 as challengers, but he stayed with the World Cup final 35 at those stages. He also passed over his 160 against South Africa in Cape Town in 2018, a knock notable for containing 100 runs scored without a single boundary.

In the final round, Kohli chose the 43 over the 35, settling on the Champions Trophy final innings as his overall pick. Several celebrated centuries did not survive the earlier rounds. His 183 against Pakistan at Mirpur in the 2012 Asia Cup, scored while chasing 330, was eliminated in round six. His 138 against South Africa in Chennai in 2015 fell in round seven. His 107 against Pakistan in Adelaide at the 2015 Cricket World Cup, which was the first century by an Indian batter against Pakistan in a World Cup, was knocked out in round eight.

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Kohli's overall international record stands at 28,601 runs across 566 matches and 633 innings at an average of 52.86, with 86 centuries and 149 fifties. His highest score is 254 not out, and he is the second-highest run-scorer in international cricket history. In the 2013 Champions Trophy tournament as a whole, he finished with 176 runs at an average of 58.66 and a strike rate of 95.65. A day before the birthday video was published, Kohli had scored 74 off 51 balls against New Zealand in the ongoing ODI series.