DUBAI: The stage was all decked up for him. Playing in his landmark 300th ODI, Virat Kohli, India’s biggest batting superstar since the iconic Sachin Tendulkar, walked into thunderous cheers on Sunday afternoon at the Dubai International Stadium after India lost Shubman Gill’s wicket early in the piece, during their final league match of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy against New Zealand.
In the stands on his special occasion was his wife, actor Anushka Sharma, who had flown down from Mumbai, hoping that ‘King Kohli’ would make the occasion memorable.
Considering that he was just fresh off scoring a magnificent, unbeaten hundred against arch-rivals Pakistan at the same venue a week back, the expectation was justified. However, the 15,000-odd fans at the stadium here (including Anushka), and the millions watching on TV were left thoroughly disappointed when Kohli, after scoring 11 off 14 balls which included two fours, cut a ball from pacer Matt Henry around the off-stump area, in the seventh over, only to be caught brilliantly by Glenn Phillips, who flew as if he was a bird, to his right, to grab the ball at backward point.
Phillips’ Superman-esque act left Kohli stunned, as he stood at his crease for a few moments before trudging back to the pavilion, shaking his head in disappointment. The crowd, of course, was silenced for a while. Kohli’s party had been gatecrashed by Phillips.
Social media, however, was soon abuzz with reactions to the catch: “The Superman of the tournament”, wrote one fan on X.
This isn’t the first blinder that Phillips has pouched in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. The 28-year-old gave the tournament, which has mostly witnessed some dull crocket, one of its best moments when he flew to his left at backward point to pouch a blinder to dismiss Pakistan captain Mohamad Rizwan off Will O’Rourke ion the tournament’s first match at Karachi.
In the press conference before the Black Caps’ match against India, Phillips was asked in jest if he was using a glue stick to take those amazing catches. The man from Auckland put it down to luck and his hard work. “I wish I could say that I’ve got a special little glue tag that I use, but unfortunately, that’s not the case. If anything, my palms are sweatier than anything else. It comes down to a lot of hard work and doing the basics as much as I can and then sometimes luck just plays a good part in it.”