New Delhi. Virat Kohli’s bat, who has been instrumental in most of Team India’s victories, has been quiet these days. In the T20 World Cup 2024, Virat has scored a total of 5 runs in 3 innings so far. In Wednesday’s match against America, he scored a ‘golden duck’ and fell prey to Indian-origin bowler Saurabh Netrawalkar. This decline in performance of Virat who recently won the Orange Cap with 741 runs in IPL 2024 is really surprising.
It is true that most of the wickets in the T20 World Cup (T20 World Cup 2024) have uneven bounce and slowness and most batsmen have been seen struggling on it, but Virat stands out in this category. When he is in rhythm he doesn’t care about the nature of the wicket. This feature sets him apart from other batsmen. However, this ‘downfall’ in Virat’s batting is beyond comprehension. Some of Virat’s fans are quietly blaming the change in the batting order. Virat bats at number three in international cricket but is opening in the T20 World Cup. Virat, who scored 1 against Ireland and 4 against arch-rivals Pakistan, added two unwanted records to his name when he was dismissed for 0 against America. This is the first time in the T20 World Cup that Virat has been dismissed for 0 and his T20I batting average has dropped below 50 after this innings.
Among the full member nations, Virat was the only one with an average of 50+ in T20Is.
Virat was the only full member nation and the third batsman overall to have a batting average of 50+ in T20 Internationals (minimum criterion is 20 innings). He was supposed to score at least 8 runs in the match against America to maintain a batting average of 50 or more but this did not happen. Virat currently has 4042 runs in 120 ODIs at an average of 49.90, including one century and 37 fifties. Virat’s average of 51.75 before the T20 World Cup has fallen below 50 so far.
Became the first batsman to average 50+ in all three formats.
Virat averaged 50+ in T20Is with an unbeaten innings of 72 runs against South Africa in Mohali in September 2019. With this, he became the only batsman in the world to have a batting average of 50 or more in all three formats of cricket (Test, ODI and T20). It is very difficult to maintain an average of 50+ in all three formats and same happened with Virat. His performances in Test and T20 formats have declined since 2020. First of all, his batting average fell below 50 in Test cricket. He maintained this average for a long time in ODIs and T20s. The same happened to him in T20Is in 2022 when he was going through a bad batting phase. However, Virat returned to form and again averaged 50+ in this shortest format of international cricket.
Forgotten Rohit Sharma removes logo from Buttler’s bat and… Highlights of T20 WC 2024
Now the ‘war’ between Virat and Rizwan is getting interesting
After averaging below 50 in T20s, Virat’s ‘battle’ with Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan has become interesting. Among the ICC’s full member countries, Virat (49.90) currently has the best average in T20Is while Rizwan (3296 runs in 101 matches, average 49.19) is second. Rizwan will now look to overtake Virat in the T20I average race. Suryakumar Yadav (2200 runs in 63 matches, average 44.89), who scored an unbeaten half-century against America on Wednesday, is in third place. However, in terms of overall best run average in T20Is, Malawi’s Sami Sohail (832 runs in 31 matches, average 59.42) and Bahrain’s Sohail Ahmed (857 runs in 21 matches, average 50.41) are two places ahead of Virat.
Gordon and Jordan with the two bowlers of T20 World Cup 2024…an important coincidence.
Virat’s great record in T20 World Cup but…
Virat Kohli holds the record for most runs in the T20 World Cup. The ‘hero’ of India’s many memorable wins in the tournament, Virat has so far scored 1186 runs in 30 matches at an average of 67.41 and a strike rate of 130.52. However, the current tournament has been disappointing for him in terms of batting. Virat has become the highest run-scorer twice in the T20 World Cup. He peaked with 319 runs in 2014 and 296 runs in 2022, while in the 2016 T20 World Cup he scored 73 runs and was the number two batsman behind Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal (295 runs).
,There is no one like ‘Jassi’, never scoring more than 50 runs in his entire T20I career
Virat’s average in ODIs is 58.67
After missing out on an average of 50 in T20Is, Virat now averages 50+ only in ODI Internationals. However, he is very close to achieving an average of 50 again in both Test and T20 formats. In his 16-year international career, Virat has so far scored 8 thousand 848 runs at an average of 49.15 in 113 Tests, 13 thousand 848 runs at an average of 58.67 in 292 ODIs and 4042 runs at an average of 49.90 in 120 T20Is. He has 29 centuries in Tests, 50 in ODIs and one century in T20Is (80 centuries in total). Virat is the batsman who has scored the most centuries in ODIs. In the World Cup 2023 itself, he has taken Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODIs.
Tags: ICC T20 World Cup, On this day, T20 World Cup, Virat Kohli, Virat Kohli’s record, Virat Kohli’s T20 record
First published: June 14, 2024, 10:41 IST