Reliving Virat Kohli’s 2018

Ever since the ICC announced their annual Cricket Awards, there is one name on everybody’s mind. There’s no surprise that name is Virat Kohli. The Indian skipper swept through the ICC Awards as he was named the ICC Cricketer of the Year (the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy), the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year and the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year. He became the first man on the planet to grab all three awards in a single calendar year.

2018 was simply a mind-boggling year for Virat Kohli. He amassed a staggering 2735 runs (which includes 11 hundreds) in 37 innings at an average of 68.37 in international cricket in the calendar year 2018. No other player managed to touch the 2000-run mark and Kohli raced past it with ease. The second best on this list of most runs in international cricket in 2018 is Joe Root who finished about 800 runs behind Kohli despite playing more games.

No player (who has played 10 innings or more) averages better than Kohli and no player has scored hundreds than the Indian skipper in 2018. It was the third successive year where Kohli put together more than 2500 runs in international cricket.

Hence, with a fabulous and a stunning 2018 behind him, let’s look back at his 2018, format-wise.

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Test Cricket

2018 was supposed to be a tough year for Indian cricket, especially for Indian batsmen with tours of South Africa, England and Australia lined up. However, Kohli batted like a dream and a man possessed in every country that he went to. He finished the tours of South Africa and England as the highest run-getter with no one even close to him. He was India’s one-man army with the bat on those two tours.

South Africa threw up pretty tough and challenging pitches but the Indian skipper was up for the task. After a failure in the first Test, he struck a fighting 153 as he helped India to get close to South Africa’s first innings total. In the third Test at Johannesburg which was one of the toughest pitches to bat on, he scored 54 and 41 helping India win the Test match. He finished the series with 286 runs and was the lone centurion from either side in the series.

England was supposed to be his biggest challenge and the number 134 surrounded him in the lead-up to the Test series. That was the number of runs he scored during his last visit to England (in 10 innings). However, he surpassed that mark in the very first innings as he struck a scintillating 149 bailing India out of trouble in that first Test at Edgbaston.

He was a tad lucky but he made England pay for their errors on the field. Even in the second innings when Kohli was batting, India were in the game but once he was out for 51, the innings fell apart. In the third Test at Trent Bridge which India won, he scored 97 and 103. His performances went down a touch as the series went along.

He scored 46 and 58 in the fourth Test before registering 49 and 0 in the last Test. However, he finished the tour with a staggering 593 runs at an average of 59.30 overcoming his past demons.

In Australia, he failed in the first Test but on the most challenging pitch of the tour, he struck a fine 123 once again bailing India out of trouble. However, like most of the other overseas Test hundreds of 2018, this went in vain as well. He ended the year with a patient 82 at the MCG. He also struck a ton in his only home series of the year against the Windies.

In fact, only two players have made in excess of 1000 Test runs in 2018 and Kohli tops the list. He finished the year with 1322 runs at an average of 55.08 and most of his runs have come in tough batting conditions or rather bowler-friendly conditions. Hence, Kohli richly deserves the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award.

Kohli in Tests in 2018

ODI Cricket

In ODI cricket in 2018, Virat Kohli redefined the art of batting in white-ball cricket. He simply just churned out hundreds and runs for fun. In 14 ODI innings, he amassed 1202 runs which includes six hundreds and three fifties. His average was beyond imagination.

He had five not-outs but there was not one occasion when Kohli failed and registered a single-digit score. In fact, his lowest score was 16 and that was the only time he was out under 30 in 2018. His ODI average of 2018 was a jaw-dropping 133.55 and moreover, he had a strike-rate of 102.55.

His 2018 started with the South Africa tour where he played six ODIs. He scored 558 runs at an average of 186.00 and he scored three tons and one fifty. The South Africa bowlers just couldn’t figure out how to dismiss the Indian captain.

In the three-match series in England, he didn’t score a hundred but was consistent as he got a couple of fifties and a 45. Then came the series against the Windies at home where he struck three back-to-back tons deflating the Windies bowling attack. He ended the series with 453 runs in 5 innings.

Asia Cup was the only 50-over assignment that the Indian skipper missed. Hence, with 1202 runs, Kohli ended 2018 as the highest run-getter. Rohit Sharma and Jonny Bairstow did notch up 1000 runs in the year as well but both of them played a lot more than the Indian captain did. In fact, Kohli reached the 1000-run mark in his 11th innings which is a record. Hence, he clinched the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year award as well.

Kohli in ODIs in 2018

T20Is

In 2016, Virat Kohli, the T20 batsman was on show as he redefined the art of batting in T20s. However, Kohli’s numbers in T20Is have gradually gone down since the start of 2017. He averaged 37.38 in 2017 while his average dipped further in 2018. He could muster 211 runs in 9 innings and had just one fifty in the shortest format in 2018.

He failed to get past the 30-run mark in his first four in T20Is of 2018 out of which three were single-digit scores. However, as the year went along he found fluency as he racked up a couple of 40s in England before ending the year with a match-winning 61 not out while chasing 165 against Australia.

However, he also didn’t play a lot of T20Is as well in 2018. He sat out of one game in South Africa before he took a break when India participated in the Nidahas Trophy. He was also rested for the three-match T20I series against the Windies at home. Hence, it was a rather indifferent year in T20Is for Kohli.

Kohli in T20Is in 2018