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.
ANI
