Where does Virat Kohli rank among World Cup's top scorers?
Indian batting talisman Virat Kohli played a match-winning knock in India's 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup opener against Australia at Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium. Amid tough circumstances, the veteran displayed remarkable character and smashed a 116-ball 85. Notably, this was his ninth fifty-plus score in ODI World Cups. He is now the 10th-highest run-getter in the history of the competition. Here are his stats.
Another brilliant knock by Kohli
Chasing 200, Kohli came to the middle after India lost opener Ishan Kishan in the first over. Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer also departed for ducks, which put the onus on Kohli and KL Rahul (97*). The duo gave an exhibition of resistance and endurance thereafter. Kohli played meticulously, having scored just six fours in his knock. India won the duel by six wickets.
Kohli has been acing the opening clashes
Kohli is featuring in his fourth World Cup edition, having appeared in 2011, 2015, and 2019. Each of his two WC tons has come in the opening matches. In 2011, he slammed an unbeaten 100 against Bangladesh. It was his first-ever WC encounter. Four years later, Kohli smashed a match-winning 107 against Pakistan. Kohli scored 18 against South Africa in the 2019 WC opener.
10th-highest run-getter in ODI WCs
Kohli struck his seventh ODI WC fifty. He also owns two tons. In 27 matches in the competition, Kohli now owns 1,115 runs at 48.47. During his knock, the 34-year-old completed 1,100 WC runs and went past the tally of Tillakaratne Dilshan (1,112) and Mahela Jayawardene (1,100). He hence has now become the 10th-highest run-getter in WC history.
Who all are ahead of Kohli?
With 2,278 runs, Sachin Tendulkar is the only Indian with more WC runs than Kohli. He also happens to be the highest run-getter in the tournament's history. Ricky Ponting (1,743), Kumar Sangakkara (1,532), Brian Lara (1,225), AB de Villiers (1,207), Chris Gayle (1,186), Sanath Jayasuriya (1,165), Shakib Al Hasan (1,160), and Jacques Kallis (1,148) are the others ahead of Kohli.
Here are his overall numbers
In 282 ODIs, Kohli has raced to 13,168 runs at an average of 57.50. He slammed his 67th ODI fifty, besides also owning 47 tons. In 48 matches versus Australia, Kohli owns 2,313 runs at 53.79. He registered his 13th ODI fifty. Kohli also went past 200 ODI fours versus Australia (203). As per ESPNcricinfo, Kohli owns 49 fifty-plus scores, having scored 5,588 runs.
