File photo of Virat Kohli.© AFP
India’s batting talisman Virat Kohli ended the ICC World Cup 2023 campaign as the Player of the Tournament and leading run-scorer of the marquee event. The 36-year-old ended his ODI World Cup 2023 journey as the leading run-scorer of this prestigious tournament with a total of 765 runs. Kohli scored 54 runs off 63 deliveries in the final against the triumphant Australian team at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. However, he had a fantastic campaign overall, with three tonnes and six half-centuries at an average of 101.57 and a strike rate of 90.69.
The former India captain had a great tournament on all fronts, first equaling and then passing Sachin Tendulkar to become the player with the most ODI hundreds (50). Last Wednesday, the 35-year-old repeated that feat in the crucial semi-final match against New Zealand at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
On October 8, the batter began the tournament with a critical 85 in the team’s first match against Australia in Chennai. In the group stages, he scored centuries against Bangladesh (103) and South Africa (101*), as well as key performances against New Zealand (95) and Sri Lanka (85).
Kohli performed admirably in the World Cup, serving as the pivot around which the entire batting unit revolved.
Virat ended with the most fifty-plus scores in a single World Cup edition with nine half-centuries and passed through Tendulkar’s seven fifties in 2003 and Shakib al Hasan in 2019.
In the 28.3 overs, Pat Cummins picked up a humongous wicket after he dismissed the highest run scorer of the ongoing tournament. The Aussie skipper delivered a short-length ball that took an inside edge and got into the stumps, which forced Kohli to move out of the crease on Sunday.
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