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July 17, 2022. Virat Kohli, batting on 17, nicks a delivery that is angled across him by England left-arm pacer Reece Topley in the Manchester ODI. His wicket leaves India in big trouble at 38/3 while chasing 260.
Rishabh Pant, however, lifts India to a famous win, cracking a belligerent hundred. The Men in Blue celebrate a series victory, but for Kohli, it was yet another disappointing series. He was not needed to bat in the first ODI at the Kennington Oval and was dismissed for 16 in the second game.
Earlier, the struggling batter was dismissed for 11 and 20 in the rescheduled Test in Birmingham. The failures meant Kohli’s lean run in international cricket continued. He then decided to take a break from the game he loved so much and came back not only refreshed but also a changed man.
On his return, he cracked 122* off 61 balls against Afghanistan in an Asia Cup clash in Dubai. During the T20 World Cup the same year, he slammed 82* off 53 against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), undoubtedly one of the finest T20I knocks ever.
2022, thus, marked Kohli’s much-awaited return to form. However, if 2022 was his year of redemption, 2023 will go down in history as Kohli’s year of domination! The 35-year-old finished the year as the second-leading run-getter with 2,048 runs in 36 innings at an average of 66.06 with eight hundreds and 10 fifties.
Kohli’s teammate Shubman Gill topped the charts with 2,154 at an average of 46.82, hitting seven hundreds and 10 fifties. Gill, however, played 52 innings, which makes it clear that Kohli would have easily surpassed him had he played as many innings.
With his run tally in 2023, Kohli created a new record, becoming the first batter to score over 2,000 international runs in seven different calendar years. He left behind Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara, who had achieved the feat in six different calendar years.
Of course, this was only one of the many records Kohli broke in a super smashing 2023 - going past Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 49 ODI tons is worth a mention here.
Kohli’s outstanding ODI record in 2023
The former India captain had an exceptional run in ODIs in 2023. The right-handed batter played 24 innings and amassed 1,377 runs at an average of 72.47 and a strike rate of 99.13 with six hundreds and eight fifties. Kohli finished as the second-leading run-getter in the format with Gill (1,584 runs from 29 innings) again leading the charts.
Of his 1,377 runs, 483 runs came in chases at an average of 60.37 with one hundred. He also scored 95 against New Zealand and 85 against Australia, guiding tough chases during the World Cup.
On the other hand, the former India captain was exceptional batting first. He smashed 894 runs in 14 matches at a stupendous average of 81.27 with as many as five hundreds. Significantly, all his five tons batting first came in winning causes.
Dividing his ODI performance in 2023 team-wise, Kohli came up with excellent numbers against all the top sides. He averaged 47.33 from six matches against Australia, 53.40 in five games against New Zealand, 71 from three matches against arch-rivals Pakistan, and a whopping 93.50 against one of his favorite opponents, Sri Lanka, from six matches.
Overcoming ODI World Cup knockout woes and how!
If there was one criticism of Kohli heading into 2023, it was the fact that he had failed to live up to expectations in ODI World Cup knockout clashes. He has been stellar in T20 World Cup knockout games but had failed to replicate the same in the ODI event.
Ahead of the 2023 ODI World Cup, he possessed a very poor record in knockout matches in the premier ICC event. Kohli had, of course, scored a crucial 35 in the 2011 World Cup final against Sri Lanka, but was dismissed in single-figure scores in the 2015 and 2019 World Cup semi-finals. Questions were even raised about his big-match ability.
Kohli 2.0, however, answered all critics with élan. He scored a sublime 117 off 113 balls in the first semi-final of the 2023 World Cup against old nemesis New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. He followed it up with a resolute half-century in the final against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
That the 35-year-old had a record-breaking World Cup (765 runs in 11 matches) was no surprise. The fact that he stood up and made a huge impact in the knockout matches was his biggest achievement of all.
It was heartbreaking for him and Indian fans, that despite his spectacular efforts, the Men in Blue could not win the World Cup. He undoubtedly deserved to, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
Kohli’s impressive Test numbers in 2023
The former India captain did not play any T20Is in 2023 and featured in only eight Tests in the year. Kohli came up with very good performances in red-ball cricket as well, scoring 671 runs at an average of 55.91 with two hundreds and as many fifties.
Kohli scored his first Test hundred since November 2019 when he compiled 186 off 364 balls during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy clash against Australia in Ahmedabad in March.
He scored another dogged hundred against West Indies in Port of Spain. Kohli also hit 49 in the second innings of the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at The Oval.
Although India lost their last Test of the year, the Boxing Day encounter against South Africa in Centurion, Kohli stood tall amid the ruins with 76 off 82 in the second innings. His final knock of the year in Centurion encapsulated how well he had batted right through the year in varied conditions, overcoming several challenges.
On a pitch where all other Indian batters barring KL Rahul struggled, Kohli batted with authority and maturity, just like India have always expected of him. It will be a humungous challenge for the batter to replicate the lofty heights he achieved in 2023, but die-hard fans wouldn’t bet against it.
