Stats: Virat Kohli's matches per MoM ratio second best in T20Is
On Sunday night, Virat Kohli yet again proved why he is the master of chases. He made a blistering 82* off just 51 balls to send Australia out of the tournament. Kohli struck 4 fours in the penultimate over to reduce the required rate from 10 rpo to just 4 off the last over.
Kohli’s 82* is the highest for any Indian batsman in the second innings of a T20I match. His match-winning knock earned him the Man of the Match award (hereinafter referred as MoM Award) too, as expected. It was the 9th MoM award of his T20I career; only Shahid Khan Afridi with 11 such awards has more than Virat Kohli’s 9.
Chris Gayle, Mohammad Shahzad and Shane Watson have also taken 9 awards each. Virat Kohli has also got the Man of the Series Award in T20Is 3 times, which is joint-most for any player along with Afridi. If he continues his form in the tournament, it won’t be any surprise if he is named Man of the Series for the 4th time in his career.
Among the players who have got the MoM award the most number of times, Virat is the only player who has played less than 45 matches. Chris Gayle and Mohammad Shahzad have taken 9 MoM awards from 48 matches while Watson has done it in 58 games.
Afridi, who is on the top of the list, has played 98 T20Is. Keeping in view the different number of matches played by these players, it would be appropriate to find out the ratio of matches per MoM award to find out the frequency with which each player is getting the award in T20Is.
To make our calculations easy, we have considered only those players who have played in at least 10 T20Is. Let us see the table first and then discuss our findings.
| Player |  Matches | Match Awards | Series Awards | Matches/MoM |
| MDKJ Perera (SL) | 22 | 5 | 0 | 4.40 |
| V Kohli (India) | 42 | 9 | 3 | 4.67 |
| ST Jayasuriya (SL) | 31 | 6 | 0 | 5.17 |
| CH Gayle (WI) | 48 | 9 | 1 | 5.33 |
| Mohammad Shahzad (Afg) | 48 | 9 | 1 | 5.33 |
| EC Joyce (Eng/Ire) | 18 | 3 | 0 | 6.00 |
| KP Pietersen (Eng) | 37 | 6 | 2 | 6.17 |
| SR Watson (Aus) | 58 | 9 | 1 | 6.44 |
| RE van der Merwe (Neth/SA) | 21 | 3 | 0 | 7.00 |
| Mudassar Bukhari (Neth) | 38 | 5 | 0 | 7.60 |
| BAW Mendis (SL) | 39 | 5 | 1 | 7.80 |
| Yuvraj Singh (India) | 55 | 7 | 1 | 7.86 |
| Imran Nazir (Pak) | 25 | 3 | 0 | 8.33 |
| MJ Guptill (NZ) | 60 | 7 | 1 | 8.57 |
| Sabbir Rahman (Ban) | 26 | 3 | 1 | 8.67 |
| Shahid Afridi (Pak) | 98 | 11 | 3 | 8.91 |
| ADS Fletcher (WI) | 27 | 3 | 1 | 9.00 |
| DPMD Jayawardene (SL) | 55 | 6 | 0 | 9.17 |
| PR Stirling (Ire) | 37 | 4 | 0 | 9.25 |
| AJ Finch (Aus) | 28 | 3 | 0 | 9.33 |
| Mohammad Hafeez (Pak) | 77 | 8 | 2 | 9.63 |
| BB McCullum (NZ) | 71 | 7 | 1 | 10.14 |
| DA Warner (Aus) | 61 | 6 | 1 | 10.17 |
| R Ashwin (India) | 42 | 4 | 1 | 10.50 |
| MN Samuels (WI) | 44 | 4 | 0 | 11.00 |
| DR Smith (WI) | 33 | 3 | 0 | 11.00 |
| Mohammad Nabi (Afg) | 45 | 4 | 0 | 11.25 |
| Umar Akmal (Pak) | 79 | 7 | 0 | 11.29 |
| DL Vettori (NZ) | 34 | 3 | 1 | 11.33 |
| AB de Villiers (SA) | 70 | 6 | 0 | 11.67 |
| H Masakadza (Zim) | 47 | 4 | 1 | 11.75 |
| CL White (Aus) | 47 | 4 | 0 | 11.75 |
| Umar Gul (Pak) | 60 | 5 | 0 | 12.00 |
| MEK Hussey (Aus) | 38 | 3 | 0 | 12.67 |
| NLTC Perera (SL) | 51 | 4 | 0 | 12.75 |
| DJG Sammy (WI) | 64 | 5 | 1 | 12.80 |
| TM Dilshan (SL) | 77 | 6 | 2 | 12.83 |
| JP Duminy (SA) | 70 | 5 | 1 | 14.00 |
| AD Hales (Eng) | 42 | 3 | 0 | 14.00 |
| Ahmed Shehzad (Pak) | 44 | 3 | 1 | 14.67 |
| RG Sharma (India) | 59 | 4 | 0 | 14.75 |
| EJG Morgan (Eng) | 60 | 4 | 0 | 15.00 |
| JA Morkel (SA) | 50 | 3 | 0 | 16.67 |
| LJ Wright (Eng) | 51 | 3 | 0 | 17.00 |
| KC Sangakkara (SL) | 56 | 3 | 1 | 18.67 |
| DJ Bravo (WI) | 59 | 3 | 0 | 19.67 |
| NL McCullum (NZ) | 63 | 3 | 0 | 21.00 |
| AD Mathews (SL) | 65 | 3 | 0 | 21.67 |
| Shoaib Malik (Pak) | 78 | 3 | 2 | 26.00 |
Kusal Perera has the best matches/MoM ratio in T20I with 4.40. He has made 5 half-centuries in his career and each time, he was awarded the Man of the Match award.
Kohli follows him with a difference of 0.27, and if he gets the Man of the Match award in his next match, he would cross Perera. Interestingly, Kohli and Chris Gayle have made 15 fifty plus scores in T20Is but they could fetch MoM awards only in 60% of those instances. Perera, on the other hand, has 100% success rate in this particular qualification.
Shoaib Malik, despite playing a substantial role in many of Pakistan’s victories, has got the worst matches/MoM award in T20Is (minimum 10 matches). This is partly due to the fact that most of the times, he has played the role of second fiddle to other batsmen. Malik, however, has the best Man of the Series to MoM award ratio – having won 2 such awards against 3 MoM awards.
Among the current players, Shahzad and Gayle are the only likely candidates who can rival Perera and Kohli for the top two spots.