Sydney: Indian batter Virat Kohli has crossed 1,000 runs in 2022 after two back-to-back years of not being able to touch the four-digit mark. Virat accomplished this landmark during his side’s Group 2, Super 12 match against Netherlands of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup at Sydney Cricket Ground.
In the match, the former captain scored an unbeaten 62 off 44 balls. His knock consisted of three boundaries and two sixes. This year, the batter has scored 1,024 runs in 28 matches across 31 innings at an average of 39.38. One century and nine half-centuries have come out of his bat, with the best score of 122*. He was not able to touch the 1000-run mark in years 2020 and 2021, during which he battled inconsistent form with the bat.
In the year 2020, Virat scored 842 runs in 22 matches across 24 innings at an average of 36.60. Seven half-centuries came out of his bat, with the best score of 89. Next year saw some slight improvement in his statistics, with the batter scoring 964 runs in 24 matches across 30 innings at an average of 37.07. He managed 10 half-centuries during the year, with the best individual performance of 80*. But the four-digit mark could not be obtained by the batter, who used to touch it nearly every year for fun.
Things looked really bad for this prolific batter this year too until he took a break after India’s tour to England back in July. Virat made his return to the national side during Asia Cup 2022 and has been in blistering form ever since. He was able to score his highly-anticipated 71st international ton after a gap of more than 1,000 days. He finished as the second-highest run scorer in the tournament, scoring 276 runs in five innings at an average of 92.00. One century, an unbeaten 122* and two half-centuries came out of his bat. In the next home series against Australia and South Africa, Kohli continued his solid run with two more half-centuries.
In the ongoing T20 World Cup, he has been India’s top run scorer and overall fourth-highest run scorer. He has managed 144 runs in two matches, with unbeaten half-centuries in both. His knock of 82* in the instant-classic match against Pakistan has made a quick impact in world cricket, with many terming his performance as one of his best. Since his return, Virat has scored 548 runs in 12 innings at an average of 78.28. One century and five half-centuries have been scored by him since his return, with the best score of 122*. Notably, Virat has witnessed plenty of phenomenal phases in his career, including four successive calendar years with 2000-plus runs, that is: 2,595 runs (2016), 2,818 (2017), 2,735 (2018) and 2,455 (2019).
Coming to the match with Netherlnds, with this win, India is at the top spot in the points table with four points in two wins in two matches. The Netherlands is at the bottom and has yet to score a point after two losses. India scored 179/2 in their 20 overs after opting to bat first. Virat (62*), Suryakumar Yadav (51*), and skipper Rohit Sharma (53) shined with brilliant half-centuries. Rohit and Virat put on a stand of 75 runs for the second wicket while Suryakumar and Virat put on an unbeaten stand of 95 off 48 balls for the third wicket. KL Rahul failed to fire once again, scoring only 9 runs.
Fred Klaassen and Paul van Meekeran took a wicket each for Dutch. Netherlands innings is in progress. Chasing 180, Netherlands did not really look like a threat and Indian pacers, spinners made pressure on its batters from ball one. Tim Pringle (21) and Colin Ackermann (17) were top two batters for the Dutch side. They finished the innings at 123/9 and lost the match by 56 runs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/9), Axar Patel (2/18), Arshdeep Singh (2/27) and Ravichandran Ashwin (2/21) took two scalps for India. Shami got one wicket. Suryakumar Yadav became the ‘Man of the Match’ for his brilliant half-century.
Brief Scores: India: 179/2 (Virat Kohli 62*, Rohit Sharma 53, Paul van Meekeran 1/32) beat Netherlands: 123/9 (Tim Pringle 20, Colin Ackermann 17, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/9).
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