Virat Kohli has had an incredible 2016, both as an explosive player and as a shrewd leader. Named in ESPN’s list of world’s most famous athletes, the Delhi boy has been the Man of the Series twice this year and picked up eight Man of the Match awards. Here are some of the highlights of his 2016 season:
Virat Kohli – Named in ESPN’s list of world’s most famous athletes
#1 – Twenty20 World Cup
Kohli impressed with his batting prowess, rising to the occasion with crucial knocks throughout the competition. He was declared the Player of the Tournament, for the second straight Twenty20 World Cup.
Also Read: Andy Murray’s 2016 Achievements
#2 – Indian Premier League
At the 2016 IPL, Kohli scored a record 973 runs in 16 matches, smashing the previous record for most runs scored in a single season (733) and winning the Orange Cap. With an average of 81.08, Kohli is the first player to reach the 4000-run milestone in the Indian Premier League. He hit 4 tons during the course of the tournament, having never scored a T20 century before the start of the season. As Captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Kohli led his side to the Final where they finished as runners-up.
Also Read: Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2016 Achievements
#3 – New Zealand Series
Captained by Kohli, India blanked New Zealand 3-0 in the Test series. With his knock of 211 in the 3rd Test, Kohli became the first player to score two double centuries in Tests as captain for India. Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane notched the highest fourth-wicket partnership for India in Tests (365 runs) in the same match.
The men in blue also triumphed 3-2 in the ODI matches, with Kohli acting as Vice Captain and scoring the most runs (358), the highest by any player in an India-New Zealand bilateral series played in India. With his century in the Mohali ODI, Kohli set the record for the quickest 3,000 runs scored at home in terms of innings (63). Unbeaten at 154, he also achieved the highest score by any player on the Mohali pitch.
#4 – England Series
With their 4-0 mauling of the English Test team, India end 2016 as the number one ranked team in the world. Skipper Kohli was once again the Man of the Series, scoring 655 runs and setting the record for the highest score by an Indian team captain with his knock of 235 runs in the second Test. He also became the first batsman in international cricket to achieve a batting average exceeding 50, in all three formats of the game- T20, ODI and Tests.
“It’s just the beginning. It’s nothing that we want to achieve; it’s not even a tiny bit of that. We understand where we want to go and hopefully, the guys can keep putting this kind of effort and take the team where it belongs,” he said after the 4-0 whitewash against England was complete last night. Indian fans will sure hope there’s more to come in 2017.
Tags: 2016, Cricket, England, India, Indian Premier League, IPL, New Zealand, Test Series, Twenty20 World Cup, Virat Kohli
