Virat Kohli slams his second fifty in T20 WC finals
Virat Kohli stepped up just at the right time as he hammered a sensational 76 against South Africa in the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup final against South Africa in Barbados. This was Kohli's maiden fifty this season as he was short of runs heading into the final. Meanwhile, the veteran has become the second batter with multiple half-centuries in T20 WC finals.
A crucial hand from Kohli
India started off well as Kohli hammered three boundaries in the opening over. However, the fall of three quick wickets meant the team was reduced to 34/3. A 72-run stand between Axar Patel (47) and Kohli rescued India as the latter played the second fiddle. Kohli, who slowed down in the middle overs, upped the ante toward the end as India finished at 176/7.
Maiden fifty in T20 WC 2024
The batting talisman ended up scoring 76 off 59 balls (6 fours, 2 sixes). As mentioned, this was Kohli's maiden fifty in this competition as his previous scores read 1, 4,0, 24, 37, 0, and 9. The talisman hence finished with 151 runs across eight games at 18.87. His strike rate reads 112.68.
Kohli joins Samuels
Kohli, who scored 77 versus Sri Lanka in the 2014 summit clash, became the second batter to slam two fifties in the T20 WC finals. He joined West Indies's Marlon Samuels, who scored 78 vs SL in the 2012 final and 85* vs England in the 2016 final. Meanwhile, Kohli now has five fifties across six outings in T20 WC semi-finals and final.
Second fifty versus SA in T20 WC knock-outs
Notably, this was Kohli's second fifty versus SA in a T20 WC knock-out match. The star batter scored a match-winning 72* against the Proteas side in the 2014 semi-final. With this knock, the 35-year-old has raced to 373 runs at 124.33 in the semis and finals of the T20 WC (50s: 5). No other batter has more than two 50-plus scores in this regard.
Leading run-getter in T20 WCs
The highest run-getter in T20 WC history, Kohli now owns 1,292 runs from 35 matches at a fine average of 58.72. His strike rate reads 128.81. Notably, the veteran's average in the competition was a stunning 81.50 heading into this tournament. Kohli's tally of 15 50-plus scores at the event is also the most for any batter.
Here are his T20I numbers
Kohi has raced to 4,188 runs across 125 T20Is at 48.69 (SR: 137.07). Only Rohit Sharma (4,231) has more runs in the format. Kohli's tally of 39 fifty-plus scores is now the joint-most for a batter in the format. (100s: 1). He joined Babar Azam. The former now owns 394 T20I runs against SA at 39.40 (50s: 3).
97th half-century in T20 cricket
This was Kohli's 97th fifty in T20 cricket as he has completed 12,886 runs from 399 games at 41.43 (SR: 134.20). He also owns nine tons. Meanwhile, only David Warner has more fifties in the format (104).
