After struggling for form and consistency in the last couple of years, Virat Kohli is back to his run-scoring best. The 33-year-old found his lost touch during the Asia Cup T20 tournament in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year, and since then he has been on a roll. Kohli ended an almost three-year wait by scoring an international century in Dubai on September 8 against Afghanistan and since then has not looked back. He had good outings at home in bilateral T20I series against Australia and South Africa in September and October, and now he has brought that same form to Australia as well for the T20 World Cup.
In the four matches played in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup so far, he has scored 220 runs, which is the highest total by any batter in the ongoing tournament this year. Virat remained unbeaten on three occasions and has three half centuries to his name.
He remained not out on 64 from 44 balls against Bangladesh on Wednesday (November 2) to help India secure a narrow five-run win, and in the process also became the leading run scorer in T20 World Cup history and this year’s edition as well.
Even though fans and followers feel that Virat is back to his previous best, the batter himself doesn’t think so and played down the comparison talks when, after India’s win, he was asked about the same during the post-match presentation.
He came up with an interesting answer to the question, “Are you back to being the Virat Kohli you were?” which was put forward by Harsha Bhogle, and said, “Pretty close game, not as close as we would’ve liked it to be. It was another good day with the bat, I guess. I was trying to play myself into the inning. When I went in, there was pressure, and I was watching the ball well. To answer your question, I would just say that I’m just in a happy space and don’t want to compare anything. What’s in the past is in the past,” Kohli said.
Virat will next be seen in action on Sunday (November 6) during India’s final Group 2 match of the Super 12 stage against Zimbabwe, which will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.