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Virat Kohli was back to his prolific best, particulary in ODI cricket, in 2023. After breaking a nearly three-year run of poor form in 2022, which was characterised by a lack of international centuries in any format, Kohli enjoyed one of the most productive years of his career in 2023. He scored 2048 runs in 35 international innings at an average of 66.06 with eight centuries and 10 half centuries.
Six of those centuries came in ODI cricket and three in the 2023 World Cup alone. This helped him surpass Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most centuries in the format and then become the first player to score 50 centuries in ODI cricket. Former England captain Nasser Hussain said that Kohli seems to be in a good space mentally, which is great news for him and the Indian cricket team.
“He had a fantastic 2023 and he had a fantastic World Cup. (For) all the records that he broke and the attention he got, actually what we didn’t focus on was how well he was batting technically,” said Hussain on ICC. Kohli scored a whopping 765 runs in the World Cup in 11 innings at an average of 95.62. He thus shattered the record for most runs by a player in a single edition of the World Cup, previously held by Tendulkar in 2003.
“I have not seen Virat bat as well as that. The sound off the bat. In the innings in Mumbai against Sri Lanka, I can name about five innings, but he was getting in such good positions. So that is a really good sign for Kohli and India and Virat Kohli fans because I think that means he is in a good mental space and his game is in order,” he said.
Kohli showed signs of transferring this form into Test cricket as well in the recently concluded first match between South Africa and India. On a tricky pitch, Kohli scored 38 in 64 balls as part of a 68-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer in the first innings. He was then almost a lone warrior for India in the second innings as the team folded for just 131 runs. Kohli was the last man to fall, having scored 76 off 82 balls and he was one of just two Indian batters who managed to get a double-digit score. The other was Shubman Gill, who scored 26 off 37.
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