Finally Virat Kohli lift the tata IPL Trophy

 Is there a case for comparison between Virat Kohli and Lionel Messi? The Argentine won nearly every major football trophy at both club and individual levels - multiple Champions League titles, multiple Ballon d'Ors, multiple domestic league crowns, and even a continental triumph with Argentina. But for years, the FIFA World Cup remained the elusive piece of silverware - until the 2022 FIFA World Cup happened.

Kohli's case was similar but presented a kind of reverse vacuum. He had won it all - the ICC U-19 World Cup in 2008, the ODI World Cup in 2011, Champions Trophies in 2013 and 2025, multiple Asia Cups, the ICC Test Mace (for three consecutive years), and the T20 World Cup in 2024. One trophy, though, continued to elude him - the IPL. That was only till Tuesday night. That gap too was filled, just as Messi completed his legacy journey in 2022.

"For him it's all about winning games for RCB," said Mike Hesson, hailing Kohli for his passion, longevity, intensity and loyalty. Kohli is one of the four players active since the IPL's inception in 2008 - MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Manish Pandey being the other three - and the only one to have stayed with the same franchise for all 18 seasons. Even Dhoni and Rohit do not have that distinction. The IPL glory is poetic justice.