Virat Kohli: 2023 review in numbers
Team India batter Virat Kohli had an exceptional year from a personal standpoint. 2023 will undoubtedly go down as one of the best years of his career, where he returned to his absolute best.
Kohli battled a prolonged lean patch from 2020 to most of 2022, and it took a break after India toured England in 2022. He has been in sublime form since returning to action, beginning with a prolific 2022 Asia Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup.
The ace batter continued with the same form in 2023 as well. The fact that the year was primarily focused on ODI cricket, courtesy of the World Cup, helped a lot. Nevertheless, he piled on runs across all three formats and will be on the lookout to extend his run of form to 2024 as well.
All in all, Kohli scored 2,048 runs in 26 international innings at an average of 66.06. He also broke a slew of records - the most notable being the first person to record 50 ODI hundreds.
On that note, let us take a look at Kohli's 2023 from a statistical point of view.
#1 Tests
2023 witnessed Kohli scoring his first Test hundred in over three years as he reached the three-figure mark in the fourth and final Test against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The right-handed batter scored 186 runs off 364 deliveries in the drawn affair as India sealed the series by a 2-1 margin.
He also recorded a memorable ton during the tour of the Caribbean. The right-handed batter scored 121 runs off 206 deliveries before being run out.
Kohli scored 671 runs in 12 Test innings in 2023 at an average of 55.92 and a strike rate of 54.73.
In the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at The Oval, Kohli scored 49 runs in the second innings as India slumped to a heavy loss.
In his final innings of the year, Kohli scored a counter-attacking 76 runs off 82 deliveries as India suffered an innings defeat in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Centurion.
#2 ODIs
The bulk of Kohli's runs for 2023 came through the ODI format, which included a record-breaking 2023 ODI World Cup campaign. He became the first batter to cross the 700-run threshold for a single campaign and played a starring role in India's dominant run-up until the final, where they lost to Australia.
He began the year with two hundreds in Team India's whitewash over Sri Lanka in January. While he had a bit of a lean patch in the home bilateral series against Australia and New Zealand, he roared back into form in the 2023 Asia Cup.
The right-handed batter scored a memorable ton in the dominant win over Pakistan in the Super 4s stage. His 2023 ODI World Cup campaign included three hundreds against Bangladesh, South Africa, and New Zealand, with the latter being the semi-final encounter at the Wankhede Stadium. Kohli also scored six fifties in the tournament, including one in the final against Australia.
He ended the year with 1377 ODI runs to his name in 24 innings, at an average of 72.47 and a strike rate of 99.14.
#3 T20s
Kohli's last T20I appearance came in the semi-final of the 2022 T20 World Cup against England at the Adelaide Oval, meaning that he did not play a single T20I in 2023 at all.
In terms of the shortest format, the ace batter only had the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) season to show for his efforts. He had a prolific season for RCB with the bat, but they finished sixth in the points table and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
Kohli, who was back at the top of the order for RCB for the entire season, began his campaign with an unbeaten 82 against the Mumbai Indians (MI), in the first IPL contest at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in four years. His first six matches of the season included four fifties. He ended his campaign on the back of successive hundreds against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) and the Gujarat Titans (GT).
Kohli registered 639 runs in 14 matches at an average of 53.25 and a strike rate of 139.82. His efforts resulted in him being the fourth-highest run scorer of the 2023 season.
How will the ace batter fare in 2024 in terms of runs? Let us know what you think.