In 2016 Virat Kohli had a outstanding year with the bat, he was India’s highest run getter with over 1000 runs. Kohli also had a dream season in the IPL season with four T20 hundred and over 900 runs.
In a post-match press conference at Mumbai he said, “I don’t know somehow people enjoyed me calling not a good test player and that motivated me to do extra well in this format of the game.” Those words from top class player are worth hearing to any player how to do well in any format. And result we saw in year 2016 from Virat Kohli is simply amazing.
He is the man who does well for his team in each format. Whether it is international match or league match he kept his nerves high and his passion to win the game is unique in world cricket. The Indian Test team captain had wonderful year 2016 with bat and as a captain where he reclaims top spot in International Cricket Council Test ranking.
Here are some stats and facts that Kohli achieved in year 2016. (After looking at his numbers in 2016, no one will have any doubt in mind why this man deserves the special honor from around the world.)
Outstanding Test Year: As mentioned earlier, he was not good Test player according to some people; he answered with his blade with 1215 runs in 12 games. This is his highest performance in a calendar year so far as far as Test cricket is concerned. He smashed three double centuries in 2016 which are the most by any Indian player and also joint 2nd by any Test captain, Australia’s Micheal Clarke has four double hundreds in a calendar year(2012) as a captain.
As captain, Kohli kept his team unbeaten in 2016, which is also a record for Indian team. He captained Indian team in 12 matches winning 9 of those while other 3 matches resulted into draw.
Quite Good ODI Year: Though he played only 10 ODI games (out of 13 India played), he had fairly good stats in year 2016. Playing in 10 games, 7 times he crossed fifty plus scores with 3 hundreds and 5 fifties, he scored 739 runs. If you look at his average, you will realize why he has been calling best ODI player. He averages 92.37 with strike rate of exact 100.
Extraordinary T20I Year: Do you still remember THAT inning from Kohli against Australia at Mohali in WT20? Yes, he defeat Australia in that match with his match winning 82 not out. Kohli tops the table in this format for year 2016 with 641 runs in 15 matches with 7 fifty plus score and amazing average of 106.83.
Best Ever IPL Year: He could not guide his team Royal Challengers Bangalore to win their maiden IPL title, but this man’s figure does not lie how he plays for his team. In 16 matches he played, he scored 973 runs with incredible average of 81.08 and smashed four hundred.
If I wish to write more about this ‘Modern Master’, I think it will be less to do so. Overall he has outstanding year 2016 both with bat and with his captaincy skill. We wish he will do more than this in 2017.
