The International Cricket Council (ICC) has presented India batting great Virat Kohli with the ICC ODI Player of the Year 2023 award for his massive year with the bat. Taking to their social media handles, the ICC posted a video presenting veteran Kohli with the deserving accolade as the Men in Blue prepares for the 2024 T20 World Cup in the Americas.
Ahead of the tournament opener between co-host USA and neighbours Canada in Dallas, Texas, the ICC shared the video and picked him in the ICC Team of the Year 2023.
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Meanwhile, Virat had a superb last year with the bat in hand, scoring 1377 runs in 27 ODIs played, at an average of 72.47 and a strike rate of nearly 100 (99.13), including six centuries and eight fifties.
India’s batting mainstay made headlines at the 2023 Asia Cup, helping the team win the six-team tournament co-hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka. His best of 122* came against arch-rivals Pakistan in the crucial Super Four stage game in Colombo.
Later, during the home World Cup, Virat surpassed the great Sachin Tendulkar for most runs by a batter in a single edition, amassing 765 runs in 11 innings at an average of 95.62. Virat slammed three WC tons in that edition and six half-centuries, with his best being 117. Although he completed a fifty against Australia in the Final, India failed to cross the winning line, losing by six wickets.
During the tournament, he also got past the Master Blaster’s tally of 49 hundreds, with his record 50th ODI century against New Zealand at the Wankhede in the semis.
Virat in the USA
Following another massive IPL with the bat, scoring the most runs (741 runs) in an IPL edition for the nth time, Virat landed in the USA for the 20-team tournament. Since he arrived on the eve of India’s only warm-up match against Bangladesh, he was left out of the squad.
Besides, Virat will play a vital role in India’s campaign, where they are placed in Group A alongside USA, Canada, Ireland and arch-rivals Pakistan. They play their opener against Ireland on June 5 in New York and take on Pakistan in the marquee tie on Sunday (June 9).
Although there was a lot of talk about Virat’s strike rate in the shortest format, questions about his batting position continue to make headlines. Given his form at the top could propel Rohit to open with him, history suggests he did extremely well at his favourite position of number three.
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