Venkatesh Prasad, the former Indian pace bowler, has recognized Virat Kohli’s impressive accomplishments this season. He thinks it’s Virat Kohli’s best season ever with a bat.
Despite having three seasons with averages below 40 in 2020, 2021, and 2022, the now 35-year-old player achieved an impressive 66.06 average in 2023. Virat Kohli also notched eight centuries this year, earning a place as the second top scorer. He accumulated 2,048 runs, only after Shubman Gill.
The talented cricketer also reached two notable milestones: the quickest to score 13,000 One Day International (ODI) runs and the first to reach 50 centuries in ODI. In both respects, he outdid Sachin Tendulkar.
Venkatesh Prasad admired Virat Kohli’s exceptional ability to bounce back this year during a Twitter Q&A session.
“He has proved again that he is a champion and the best batsman of this generation, been a phenomenal year for him,” Prasad said. “Would rate this as his best year, especially since it had come after a couple of difficult years for him. That hunger and zeal was refreshing and sign of a true champion that Virat is.”
Venkatesh Prasad
Presently, the top batsman is taking an active part in India’s twin-Test series happening in South Africa. He proved himself as India’s strongest hitter in the initial match. Kohli made 38 and 76 runs respectively on a pitch conducive to bowlers at Centurion during India’s game; they performed poorly, losing by a run margin of an innings and 32.
Venkatesh Prasad picks Virat Kohli’s performance as one of the best 5 of 2023
Among the best performances of 2023, Venkatesh Prasad highlighted two. One belonged to Virat Virat Kohli and his World Cup efforts. The second was from another Indian pacer, Mohammed Shami.
In the said World Cup, Virat Kohli broke records at 35. His score outshone with 765 runs in 11 matches. His average? An astounding 95.62! This achievement earned him Player of the Tournament status.
Shami, too, was brilliant in the same World Cup. His performance featured in Prasad’s top five. He bagged 24 wickets in only seven matches-an average score of 10.70. He also nabbed three five-wicket hauls.
Prasad selected three additional single-game performances from Travis Head and Glenn Maxwell, two Australian players. The latter’s heroics in the World Test Championship (WTC) and ODI World Cup final, and the former’s 201* off 128 balls in an unlikely run chase of 292 against Afghanistan from 91/7, completed the list.
The Indians suffered the consequences of Head’s two magnificent century in the summit skirmishes. In the opening WTC final innings, the 30-year-old struck a brilliant 163 runs to lead Australia to a 209-run victory. In the World Cup final, he followed it with a 120-ball 137 that helped Australia win their sixth championship.