Is Virat Kohli the best T20I batsman ever?

Kohli scored three back-to-back fifties in the T20I series against Australia in January 2016

The best in the World

Having already said enough to prove Kohli’s credentials as the best T20I batsman of India, let us now have a look at his global competitors. Starting with the king of the mountain, Brendon McCullum, who is the most prolific T20I run scorer in history, with 2140 runs to his name.

McCullum scored 13 fifties in 70 innings while making those runs, while Kohli, as of this date, as the same number of fifties in half the number of innings. He has 13 fifties in 35 innings. Hence, he easily trumps McCullum in terms of the number of innings/ 30+ (or 50+) score.

Also, his batting average is several notches higher than that of McCullum, who averaged 35.66 at the culmination of his career. Agreed that McCullum played twice the number of matches that Kohli has, but the same logic makes it even harder for a batsman to maintain such an average.

Kohli ranks 12th in the list of all-time leading run-scorers in T20I but has scored more fifties than 9 of the 11 players above him, not to mention that he has the best average amongst all.

Only McCullum and Chris Gayle strike the ball at a better rate than Kohli amongst the top 12.

The Delhi-born batsman averages a staggering 84.22 while chasing targets in T20I

Kohli’s contributions in Indian victories has been immense, and in the last 8 T20I games that he has played for India, he has top scored in 6 of them.

Not to mention that India have won all of these 8 games- three against Australia in January (wherein he scored 90*, 59*, and 50), and all five games in their successful Asia Cup campaign.

In these 8 games, all of them played in 2016, he has accumulated 352 runs at a mind-boggling average of 117.33, and a strike rate of 134.35 with 4 fifties, which ridiculously amazing. While chasing in all T20I, his batting average is 84.22, comfortably ahead of any other T20I batsman with a substantial number of innings.

Such has been Kohli’s domination, that he now holds the record for scoring three back-to-back fifties in T20I. Only Gayle and McCullum have scored more half-centuries (4) on a trot.

He was the most prolific run scorer in the last edition of the World T20 and is on his way towards doing the same this year as well. A T20 batsman is generally evaluated based on his prowess with the bat, the ability to handle pressure, and win matches for his country.

Virat Kohli comfortably satisfies all these conditions, and his numbers indicate that he does his better than his other global counterparts. Hence, it would not be an understatement to state Kohli as the most prolific T20 batsman in the world.