REWIND 2023: From Test hundred after 1000 days to record-breaking ODI World Cup - Virat Kohli at his best
2023: Year of Virat Kohli
The year 2023 belonged to Virat Kohli in many ways as the India batter not only found his form but scored a plethora of runs as well. He also ended his drought of hundred in Test cricket while scoring six of them in ODIs. The modern master also played a significant role in India's ODI World Cup 2023 campaign where the team reached the final.
As 2023 reaches its end, have a look at all the records and feats achieved by Virat Kohli in 2023:
A Test hundred, finally
Virat Kohli scored his 28th Test ton against Australia in March 2023 during the Ahmedabad Test of Border-Gavaskar series. The batter had last scored a Test hundred in November 2019 against Bangladesh and it took him more than three years or 1000 days to score his next one. Virat then added one more ton to his tally with 121 against West Indies in July.
Also Read:India wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul equals rare feat with hundred in Boxing Day Test vs South Africa
An ODI year to remember
Virat Kohli had a brilliant 2023 in terms of ODI cricket. The batter played 27 games, scoring 1,377 runs at an average of 72.47 with the highest score of 166 not out against Sri Lanka in January. He also scored a mind-boggling six hundreds and eight fifties in 2023.
His best achievements in ODIs were: Scoring hundred number 49 and 50 - which not only took him on par with former India batter Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 hundreds put past him as well.
Virat scored his 49th ODI hundred in the league game of the ODI World Cup against South Africa at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on November 5, 2023. 10 days later, he went on to score his 50th ODI hundred against New Zealand in the first semi-final of the quadrennial tournament - becoming the first batter in the history of ODI cricket to do so.
A record ODI World Cup
Virat had a sensational ODI World Cup in terms of scoring runs and breaking records. The batter amassed 765 runs in 11 innings of as many matches at an astonishing average of 95.62. With the performance, Virat broke Sachin Tendulkar's record of most runs in an ODI World Cup edition - 648 runs - which Tendulkar had set in 2003 edition.
Kohli also went past 50 on nine occasions with the help of three hundreds and six fifties in 11 innings - the most in a single edition of the ODI World Cup. He again went past Sachin's record of seven fifty-plus scores set in 2003.
