Hyderabad: There is an old English proverb- Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man. This applies to star India batter and former skipper Virat Kohli in totality.
The Delhi batter, who was a part of the 2011 ODI World Cup winning team, is the 'chase master' when it comes to the white ball format, particularly the 50 overs. On Sunday evening, Virat Kohli showed his mettle and hit a mature 85 off 116 balls in a crucial run chase when the team was in trouble at 3-2 during the lung opener of the Cricket World Cup against Australia.
However, due to the heroics of Virat Kohli and batter-wicket-keeper KL Rahul, India started their campaign on a winning note after beating five-time champions Australia at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai. Cut to October 2022, when India was playing arch-rivals Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia during the T20 World Cup, it was once again Virat Kohli, whose knock helped the Men in Blue defeat the Men in Green.
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A match-winning partnership followed by a warm hug 🤗
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 8, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
Well played, KL Rahul & Virat Kohli 👏#CWC23 | #INDvAUS | #TeamIndia | #MeninBlue pic.twitter.com/aVdbkVHekz
">A match-winning partnership followed by a warm hug 🤗
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 8, 2023
Well played, KL Rahul & Virat Kohli 👏#CWC23 | #INDvAUS | #TeamIndia | #MeninBlue pic.twitter.com/aVdbkVHekzA match-winning partnership followed by a warm hug 🤗
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 8, 2023
Well played, KL Rahul & Virat Kohli 👏#CWC23 | #INDvAUS | #TeamIndia | #MeninBlue pic.twitter.com/aVdbkVHekz
And the numbers of the king, speak volumes. Virat Kohli while batting second in ODIs has scored a staggering 7,525 runs in 148 innings with an average of 64.31 and a healthy strike-rate of 93.50, with 28 hundreds and 38 half-centuries, with a highest score of 183.
In India's wins, while chasing, Kohli has amassed 5,517 runs in 92 innings with an average of 88.98 and a strike rate of 97.1 with as many as 22 centuries and 23 half-centuries, with 183 as his highest score. Kohli thus has the most successful runs in run chases in ODIs.
The second-best on the list is cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, who has a whopping 5,490 runs in 124 innings with an average of 55.45. Then it is the turn of former Australian World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting, who has 4,186 runs in 104 innings with an average of 57.34.
India skipper Rohit Sharma, another modern-day great, comes fourth on the most with 3,983 runs in 89 innings with an average of 63.22, while the fifth batter on this list is former South African Jack Kallis, who has 3950 runs, from 100 innings.
This wasn't the first time that Australia was at the receiving end of Virat's brilliance in the white-ball format. There are many more instances when the ace batter has pulled his team out of trouble.
- Also read- Cricket World Cup 2023: Neither Kohli nor Gill, Shadab picks Rohit Sharma as favourite batter
On Sunday night, when India was reeling at 3-2, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul first steadied the ship and conjured a 165-run stand for the fourth wicket, the highest for India in the World Cup, surpassing the record held by NS Sidhu and Vinod Kambli (1996 World Cup), to romp the side home.
Kohli threw his wicket away when India was nearing victory, while KL Rahul, who remained unbeaten and couldn't complete a deserving hundred, finished the game with a maximum.
In the 90s, Indians safely believed that till batting great Sachin Tendulkar was at the crease, the game wasn't over, the same applies to Kohli, who is a fitness freak now!!
