Kohli sparks the fire once again to make a statement in World Cup year
Kohli’s run began with a solid 113 against Bangladesh at Chattogram, followed up by yet another 113, this time against Sri Lanka at Guwahati and finished yesterday with his 46th ODI ton.
This felt like a throwback to the batter’s heydays, when such runs were the norm. His 133* at Hobart, which helped India hunt down a target of 321 in 36.4 overs against Sri Lanka in 2012, began a streak which saw him score four hundreds in five innings. Similarly, he scored three ODI hundreds in four innings in the 2017/18 season. In October 2018, the batter had thrashed three back-to-back ODI hundreds against West Indies.
Thus, his most recent showing is an indicator of how the batter may be back at his very best. It is all the more befitting that this has happened in what is perhaps his most favoured format.
Kohli is the fifth-highest run-scorer in the ODIs, and his average is the highest (58.23) amongst all batters who have scored more than 5000 ODI runs. This is no mean feat, given that he has a better average than giants like Sachin Tendulkar (44.83), MS Dhoni (50.57), AB de Villiers (53.5) and Michael Bevan (53.58).
Highlights of Virat Kohli's all-time great knock against Pakistan | T20WC 2022
Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 53-ball 82* to help India secure an opening victory against Pakistan in their ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 encounter.
The hundred at Thiruvananthapuram was his 21st which saw him overtake none other than Tendulkar, and also made him the player with most hundreds in a single country. Sri Lanka are clearly his favourite opponents, he has scored 10 ODI hundreds against them, the most by any player against one country.
Yesterday wasn’t just about Kohli’s runs but the manner in which he got them. His strike rate was 150.9, the fourth time he has finished at a strike rate exceeding 150 in a hundred. He is the only India batter to do so on multiple occasions.
This was also the fifth time he scored more than 150 runs in an ODI innings. He has now equalled Tendulkar and Chris Gayle in that respect, with only Rohit Sharma (8) and David Warner (6) ahead of him.
Never write off a champion: Why Ponting never lost faith in Virat Kohli
Why Ricky Ponting never lost faith in Virat Kohli and was confident the India veteran would return to form at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
The brilliant innings was backed by some scintillating effort in the field by India, as Sri Lanka were shot out for 73, giving the hosts a record win by the margin of 317 runs. This put the difference between Kohli’s score and Sri Lanka’s innings at 93 - the second-highest between an individual innings and the opposition's total in an ODI.
India would hope that this massive knock helps propel their home World Cup campaign in a manner similar to Tendulkar’s 200* which came a year before their historic win in 2011.