As known to most of the fans, the T20 WC 2021 will be Virat Kohli’s last assignment as a T20 captain for India. Kohli as a player has been exceptional when it comes to the T20 WC and has won the man of the tournament award in both the previous editions. In this piece, we look at how the player dominated this tournament and what he could be able to achieve as a captain in his last task in this format
Kohli is the 4th highest run-getter in all the ICC T20 WC tournaments. The player has 777 runs in just 16 innings. Kohli has nine fifties in the tournament which is the highest by any player. Mahela Jayawardene is the leading run-scorer with 1016 runs but has played almost double the matches when compared to Kohli. It can be said that the player is the best batsman when it comes to this tournament
2014 Edition
319 runs in 6 innings is a very good run aggregate in ODI format. Kohli managed to do so in the T20 format with 4 50+ scores. Scoring 36 % of the team runs Kohli did well in both the semi-finals and finals of the 2014 edition and had scores of 70+ in both the matches. The batsman has had a good contribution in India’s past ICC glories, scoring in the finals of the ICC World Cup 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013. This time around even his outstanding performance was not enough for India.
2016 Edition
Virat Kohli in 2016 was in a beast mode, scoring runs and centuries for fun. In the 2016 edition of the T20 WC, Kohli contributed to nearly 40 % of the team runs in 5 matches. Virat had 273 runs with three 50 + scores. The next highest run-getters for India were MS Dhoni (89 runs) and R.Sharma (88 runs). He played one of the best innings in a T20 chase against Australia when he scored 82 runs in Mohali. Kohli followed it up with an 89 in the semi-finals which they eventually lost to West Indies.
T2OI Stats: As a player & as a captain
Kohli is the leading run-scorer in the T20I format with 3159 runs in 90 matches and an average of more than 50. No one with more than 1000 runs has an average close to Virat Kohli. Kohli as of 18th October 2021 has played 45 matches as a captain and 45 matches as a non-captain. His stats if not identical are almost similar and the captainship role has not affected his batting in any which ways. As a non-captain, he averages 57 while as a captain it falls down to 48. The stats show an increase in strike rate after Kohli started leading the side.
Recent Batting Form: T20I
It’s been 5 years since the last edition of this tournament and Virat has gone through a rough patch according to his standards. His last international century was way back in 2019 and it feels like ages for all the fans. Virat does not have a century in the T20I format but his stats for T20I in the last 2 years tell a different story. With an average of 62 since 2019 and almost 1000 runs in 24 innings, Kohli is no way out of form, probably he is having a golden period when it comes to T2OI.
Conclusion
Kohli, the batsman has been great in this tournament’s history and with his recent form in this format, there is no doubt that he will have a good outing with the bat. Kohli not winning an IPL trophy and him leaving the leadership role for India after the tournament has created some sort of doubts in the minds of the crazy Indian fans.
Kohli has a captain in T20I has an excellent record. India has played 17 international bilateral series under him. Winning 11, losing two, and drawing the other four series. Such stats should encourage the supporters. Kohli has managed to win bilateral series in the SENA countries and in West Indies and Sri Lanka who are the last two champions where Kohli was Man of the Series.
For captains who have led their country in at least 40 T20 internationals, the Win/Loss ratio of India under Kohli is 1.928, which is the second-highest in the world, behind only Afghanistan’s Asghar Afghan (4.66). To put this into perspective, Dhoni’s Win/Loss ratio was 1.464 in 72 matches.
The only thing missing in Kohli’s T20I collection is a winners medal and all of India will hope that the team gets over the last hurdle this time around and Kohli will have a huge role to play for that to happen.