One of cricket's greatest batsmen and a fiery competitor known for his aggressive on-field demeanor. Kohli has been involved in numerous sledging exchanges and heated confrontations throughout his career.
32 incidents documented
Australia vs India
6 January 2025
Rishabh Pant and Pat Cummins engaged in a sustained verbal war throughout the Sydney Test as India, led by stand-in captain Pant, and Australia fought for the series in the final match.
India vs South Africa
June 2025
India's third consecutive defeat in a World Test Championship Final — this time to South Africa at Lord's in 2025 — sparked the most intense cricket debate in years about whether India's Test team was structurally incapable of winning ICC titles.
India
May 2025
Within weeks of each other in 2025, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli — India's two greatest contemporary Test batsmen — announced their retirements from Test cricket, bringing a definitive close to one of international cricket's most celebrated batting partnerships.
Australia vs India
26 December 2024
Teenage debutant Sam Konstas deliberately shoulder-bumped Virat Kohli mid-pitch during his debut innings at the MCG, sparking one of the most talked-about confrontations of modern cricket.
India vs South Africa
29 June 2024
After India won the T20 World Cup 2024 in Barbados, Rohit Sharma announced his T20I retirement during the on-field celebrations — only for Virat Kohli to simultaneously announce his own retirement — creating a bittersweet, overlapping comedy of farewells that left fans unsure which retirement to cry about first.
India vs South Africa
2024-06-29
India beat South Africa by 7 runs in a dramatic final in Barbados to win the 2024 T20 World Cup — Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli both announcing retirement from T20 internationals after the victory, ending an era in Indian T20 cricket.
India vs South Africa
29 June 2024
India ended an 11-year ICC trophy drought by defeating South Africa in a breathtaking T20 World Cup Final in Barbados — a victory that sparked celebrations across the subcontinent and prompted the retirement of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja from T20 international cricket.
India vs Australia
7 June 2023
Mitchell Starc's sustained targeting of Virat Kohli's off-stump corridor throughout the WTC Final 2023 at The Oval, exploiting English conditions to dismiss India's talisman and help Australia secure the World Test Championship.
India vs various
2023-11-19
Virat Kohli scored 765 runs in the 2023 World Cup — the highest aggregate in a single World Cup — including 3 centuries (tying the record for most in a single tournament), as India went unbeaten in 10 matches before falling to Australia in the final.
India vs England
5-9 March 2021
The on-field umpire's 'soft signal' of out for a Ben Stokes catch that appeared to have been grassed was upheld by the third umpire, sparking fury over the soft signal rule.
India vs Various
5 February 2021
Virat Kohli was regularly caught on stump microphones delivering animated verbal volleys to opponents, becoming both celebrated and criticised for his intensity.
India (internal)
8 December 2021
Virat Kohli was stripped of the ODI captaincy and replaced by Rohit Sharma in a move he claimed was made without prior consultation, exposing rifts within the BCCI and Indian cricket's power structure.
New Zealand vs India
2021-06-23
New Zealand beat India by 8 wickets to win the inaugural ICC World Test Championship Final — Kane Williamson's 49 and Kyle Jamieson's 5/31 defeating the highest-ranked Test team in the world, giving cricket's longest format its first global champion.
Australia vs India
2020-12-17
Pat Cummins's systematic off-stump line targeting Virat Kohli's drive during the 2020-21 series — dismissing Kohli four times in one series while he averaged just 9.5 — produced the sharpest statistical evidence of one bowler finding and exploiting the world's best batsman.
ICC / Various Nations
1 January 2020
The ICC's proposal to reduce Test matches from five days to four sparked fierce opposition from players and purists who argued it would fundamentally alter cricket's oldest format.
New Zealand vs India
9-10 July 2019
The rain-delayed 2019 World Cup semi-final produced multiple DRS controversies, with several New Zealand batsmen surviving LBW decisions on umpire's call. India felt numerous decisions went against them. New Zealand won by 18 runs.
India (selection controversy)
16 April 2019
After being overlooked for the 2019 World Cup squad in favor of Vijay Shankar — whom selectors described as a '3-dimensional' player — Ambati Rayudu posted a sarcastic tweet about ordering '3D glasses' for watching the World Cup.
Australia vs India
14 December 2018
Kohli and Paine had a running battle throughout the 2018-19 series, including a shoulder bump at Perth and Paine calling Kohli the most immature captain.
Various
1 January 2017
The 'Umpire's Call' element of DRS, where marginal LBW decisions are upheld even when ball-tracking shows the ball hitting the stumps, has been one of cricket's most divisive ongoing controversies.
India (internal)
20 June 2017
Anil Kumble resigned as India head coach citing an 'untenable' relationship with captain Virat Kohli, in one of the most public coach-captain breakdowns in cricket history.
Australia vs New Zealand (first), Various
27 November 2015
The introduction of day-night Test cricket with a pink ball was hailed as an innovation to save Test cricket but faced resistance from players concerned about visibility, ball behavior, and safety under lights.
England vs India
17 July 2014
Virat Kohli and James Anderson had intense verbal exchanges throughout the 2014 series in England, with Kohli accusing Anderson of being abusive and disrespectful.
England vs India
13 July 2014
James Anderson allegedly pushed Ravindra Jadeja in the players' corridor at Trent Bridge during the 2014 Test series, leading to ICC charges and hearings.
England vs India
9 July 2014
James Anderson and Virat Kohli waged a fierce verbal battle throughout England's 2014 Test series, with Anderson targeting Kohli's technique against the swinging ball. The feud — and Kohli's early struggles — led to a transformation: Kohli scored 186 at Old Trafford to silence his critics and emerge as the player who would dominate world cricket for a decade.
New Zealand vs India
2014-02-06
Trent Boult's left-arm swing against Virat Kohli during New Zealand's 2014 home series — using the angle into the right-hander combined with outswing away from the stumps — produced the blueprint for how swing bowling could repeatedly beat Kohli's outside-edge-happy driving game.
England vs India
2014-07-09
Stuart Broad's specific plan to exploit Virat Kohli's drive outside off stump during India's 2014 England tour — taking his wicket four times in the series through the same channel — contributed to Kohli's disastrous tour (134 runs at 13.4) and a rare period of sustained vulnerability for the world's future number-one batsman.
South Africa vs Various
3 January 2013
Dale Steyn was known for his aggressive celebrations and confrontational send-offs, frequently getting in batsmen's faces after dismissing them.
South Africa vs India
26 December 2013
Dale Steyn bowled a sustained and hostile spell at Virat Kohli during India's tour of South Africa in 2013-14, hitting him multiple times on the body and helmet. Kohli showed growing maturity in absorbing the blows and fighting back. Their exchanges across the series became one of cricket's great fast-bowler-batsman rivalries of the era.
South Africa vs India
2013-12-18
Morne Morkel's height-generated steep bounce during South Africa's 2013 home series created specific problems for Virat Kohli — targeting the rising ball at his gloves from a good length on seaming, bouncy South African pitches — as part of a wider South African plan to contain India's most dangerous batsman.
India vs West Indies
2013-11-16
Sachin Tendulkar played his 200th and final Test at his home ground, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, retiring after 24 years of international cricket — the longest such career in history. His retirement speech, delivered in the middle of Wankhede, moved a nation to tears.
India vs Australia
2012-02-29
Virat Kohli's 2012 CB Series in Australia announced him to the world as cricket's next great batsman — scoring 230 runs across three successive run-chases, including 133* to chase 316, 75 to chase 270, and 66 to chase 321 — an unprecedented sequence of successful chases.
Australia vs India
24 March 2011
Shane Watson was given not out LBW to Zaheer Khan early in Australia's innings when replays showed the ball hitting middle stump. No DRS existed. Watson scored 25 and Australia posted 260. India successfully chased but the error gifted Australia extra runs and made the chase far more difficult.