Virat Kohli: The first test between South Africa and India on Boxing Day ended in South Africa’s favor. The hosts thrashed the Indian team by a big margin of an inning and 32 runs. It was the fourth consecutive defeat for India in SENA countries, and their dream to win a test series in South Africa has ended on this tour as well.
With an unassailable lead of 1-0 in the series, South Africa will aim to win the second test and whitewash India. On the other hand, the visitors will look to bounce back and do well to level the series. Because another defeat will hurt their chances in the World Test Championship.
Virat Kohli script history: becomes first batter to achieve this milestone
India got dismissed for just 131 runs in 34.2 overs. Virat Kohli was the only player who looked good in the second inning. He scored his 30th half-century and made 96 off 82 balls, including 12 fours and one six. During his knock, he also completed 2000 runs in this calendar year. Virat Kohli has scored 2048 runs in 36 innings across formats in 2023, at an average of 66.06.
He has also scored eight hundred and 10 half-centuries with a best of 186 runs. He is the second-highest run scorer in 2023, after Shubman Gill (2154 runs in 52 innings). With this, Virat completed 2000 or more runs in a calendar year, the seventh time in his career.
He went past Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara’s record of six times and registered history. The former Indian captain has now scored 2000 or more runs in a calendar year seven times, which is a new record. Virat scored 2000+ runs previously in 2012 (2186 runs), 2014 (2286 runs), 2016 (2595 runs), 2017 (2818 runs), 2018 (2735 runs), and 2019 (2455 runs).
How many runs has Virat Kohli scored in 2023?
Virat Kohli has scored 2048 runs in just 36 innings with 8 hundreds and 10 half-centuries.