Senior Indian batter Virat Kohli was on Thursday crowned the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year 2023, acknowledging the exceptional year he had in the 50-overs game.
Virat Kohli was the player of the tournament at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, a tournament which he made his own right from the off. King Kohli finished the tournament as the top scorer with 765 runs at an astonishing average of 95.62, way ahead of second place Rohit Sharma.
His contributions played a major part as a swashbuckling Indian team made it to the finals, only to come agonizingly close to glory and falter at the final hurdle.
In the calendar year, Virat Kohli played 27 One Day Internationals (ODIs) scoring 1,377 runs. Not limiting himself as a batter, Kohli also picked up a wicket, while displaying his exceptional fielding skills with 12 catches.
After a barren run in terms of international tons, Virat Kohli built strongly on his comeback in 2022 which laid the foundation for a spectacular 2023. In nine of his 11 innings at the World Cup, Virat Kohli atleast smashed a half-century. His total of 765 is the most runs scored by an individual batter ever at a men’s Cricket World Cup tournament, as he went past the record held by Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar since the 2003 edition.
He also scored three centuries in the tournament, with one coming against New Zealand in the semi-final, finishing with a strike rate of 90.31.
During the calendar year, Virat Kohli went past Tendulkar again as he completed a record tally of 50 ODI centuries with his semi-final knock, standing tall as the leading century-hitter in the history of the ODI format.
Having scored 1,377 runs at an average of 72.47, Virat Kohli recorded six tons and eight half-centuries in the 24 innings he played.
