After years of being subjected to relentless scrutiny from all corners due to rough patch with his bat, Virat Kohli chose the grandest of stages, the Champions Trophy, to silence the skeptics with a masterclass against Pakistan.

Under the glaring lights of the Dubai International Stadium, the ‘run machine’ clocked in, dusted off his usual heroics, and rewrote the record books. This time, he leapfrogged Ricky Ponting to become the third-highest run-getter in international cricket and casually breezed past 14,000 ODI runs.