India batter Virat Kohli has become just the second batter to hit 1000 runs in T20 World Cups. Kohli scored 12 runs against South Africa to join Sri Lanka legend Mahela Jayawardene in the prestigious list. The 33-year-old needed 28 runs to break former Jayawardene’s record for the most runs in T20 World Cups, after going past Chris Gayle in the previous match. The former India captain already has the most fifties in T20 World Cups.
Kohli couldn’t convert his start into a big score after being in sensational form throughout this T20 World Cup in Australia. Kohli hit back-to-back unbeaten fifties in India’s opening two Super-12 matches in Australia. Kohli smashed 82 runs off 53 balls against Pakistan to guide India to a 4-wicket win at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He then went on to score 62 runs off 44 balls against the Netherlands as India won the match by 56 runs.
Kohli already holds the record for the most runs scored in T20 internationals with 3868 runs to his name. He is followed closely by India captain Rohit Sharma in second spot. Kohli also holds the record for the most number of fifties scored in T20 World Cups with 12, while also scoring 36 half-centuries in T20 internationals, which is also a record.
After India’s win over Pakistan, Australian legend Greg Chappell wrote a column for The Sydney Morning Herald, in which he said Kohli’s magnificent knock against Pakistan legitimized T20 cricket as an art form.
“Ironically, it was also the innings that legitimized T20 cricket as, dare I say it, an art form, more than any that I have seen in the past 15 years. Nobody can dismiss T20 cricket as simply entertainment ever again. I can think of many of the best hitters in the modern game who could have pulled off a similar victory, and probably have, but none has ever done it with pure batting skills in the manner that Kohli did against Pakistan,” wrote Chappell.
