After a barren run of form for months across formats in international cricket, Virat Kohli was back to his best on the big stage as he scored a century in the blockbuster clash between India and Pakistan during the 2025 Champions Trophy on Sunday (February 23) at the Dubai International Stadium.

Kohli made an unbeaten knock of 100 in just 110 balls as the Rohit Sharma-led side comfortably chased down a total of 242 with 45 balls to spare. The former Indian captain made his 51st ton in ODI cricket and 82nd century in international cricket.

This was Kohli's first three-figure score in international cricket since reaching the milestone against Australia in the first test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) in Perth in November. Post the ton, Kohli had a miserable series as he managed just 85 runs in eight innings.

During the five-match Test series, Kohli was dismissed nine times and on each occasion, he edged a delivery from a pacer outside the off-stump to either the wicket-keeper or the slip cordon.

This brought an old weakness of Kohli back to the limelight as his struggles on deliveries outside the off-stump was highlighted by cricket experts.

After his century against Pakistan in Dubai, Kohli admitted to the weakness for the first time. However, he revealed it was a catch-22 situation for him. The former Indian captain stated that the cover drive is a shot that has got him many runs in his career.

"It's a catch-22. I mean, it's (cover drive) kind of been my weakness as well over the years, but I've scored a lot of runs on that shot," said Kohli in an interaction with BCCI.TV

In the knock against Pakistan, Kohli played a couple of glorious cover drives. One of which saw him cross the 14,000-run mark in ODI cricket. The 36-year-old is the quickest player in history to achieve the feat.

"I think today was just about backing my shots, and I think the first couple of boundaries I got were cover drives on the rise, so I really had to just let it go a little bit and take a bit of risk and follow through with my shots. Because when I hit that kind of shots, then I feel in control when I bat out there. So, it was a good innings for me personall,y and it was a great team win," Kohli added.

Meanwhile, India are almost assured a place in the semi-final and will New Zealand in their final league stage match on March 2 in what is likely to be a match to decide, which team finishes first and second.

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