India’s run machine Virat Kohli on Sunday against South Africa created a new record for completing 1000 runs in the T20 World Cup. He accomplished the milestone and is the only Indian after Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene to hold such a record. Jayawardene first set the record and completed 1016 runs in the T20 World Cup before retiring. Although Jayawardene completed the milestone in 31 innings, Kohli was quick and achieved the milestone in just 22 innings.
After scoring two consecutive half-centuries in the first two matches of the tournament, Kohli could not make an impact in the third game against the Proteas. But in Perth he scored 12 runs in 11 balls, he managed to cross the 1000-run mark before being dismissed by Proteas pacer Lungi Ngidi.
Kohli achieved this feat in just 24 matches and has now scored 1001 runs in just 22 innings at an average of 83.41. Although he has not scored a T20 World Cup century, he has scored 12 half-centuries. Jayawardene remains the highest run-scorer in the T20 World Cup with 1016 runs in 31 matches.
On the other hand, Rohit Sharma is the only other Indian batsman after Kohli to score more than 900 runs in the history of the tournament. Earlier, Virat had completed 1000 runs in Tests during the first session on the fourth day of the fourth Test against England at The Oval. He reached the milestone of joining the elite list of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Kohli became the third Indian after Tendulkar and Dravid to score more than 1000 Test runs in Australia and England.
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India vs South Africa Match Review
India on Sunday won the toss and elected to bat first against South Africa in their third Group 2 match of Super 12 in the T20 World Cup at the Perth Stadium on Sunday. Batting first, the condition of Team India’s batting line-up scrambled and became pathetic too. Rohit Sharma did not get runs again and was settled cheaply in the 5th over. KL Rahul’s poor form continued with his dismissal in the same over to Lungi Ngidi. After two consecutive half-centuries, this time Virat Kohli could not do anything special for the team.
After the next 2 quick wickets in the form of Deepak Hooda and Hardik Pandya, India was 5 down for 49. Then with a 50+ runs partnership between Dinesh Karthik and Surya Kumar Yadav mainly led by Surya (68 runs of 40 balls), India somehow manages to score 133 runs with the loss of 9 wickets in their quota of 20 overs.
Chasing the target, the start of the South African team was not good. Arshdeep quickly sent South Africa’s de Kock and Rousseau on the Pavillion track with scintillating bowling, and Shami tried to revive the match by dismissing Bavuma. But then Markram and Miller turned the match completely in South Africa’s favor and Proteus won the match by 5 wickets.
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