Can Virat Kohli break 8-year-old T20 WC record during India's South Africa encounter?

Indian cricket sensation Virat Kohli has emerged as the highest run-scorer for India in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022. He kicked off the tournament with a sensational match-winning 82* off 53 in the first Super 12 match against Pakistan and followed it up with a 62* off 44 in the next game against the Netherlands. His knock against Netherlands took his total tally of runs in the T20 World Cup to a total of 989 runs and he now looks to break an eight-year-old batting record at the prestigious tournament. 

While India face South Africa in Match No. 30 of the T20 WC 2022, Kohli needs to score 28 runs more to surpass Sri Lanka stalwart Mahela Jayawardene in the list of players to score the highest runs in T20 WC history. By scoring 28 runs more against the Proteas, Kohli will go past Jayawardene’s eight-year-old record of scoring 1016 runs in the T20 World Cup. It is pertinent to mention that Jayawardene made his final T20 WC appearance during the title-winning 2014 season for Sri Lanka.

Virat Kohli has an average of 89.90 in men's T20 World Cup

While Kohli has played 23 matches so far in the T20 World Cup, Jayawardene played a total of 31 games. Kohli has amassed 989 runs in 23 games, at an average of 89.90, alongside a strike rate of 132.94. He has also hit 12 T20 WC half-centuries in the process.

On the other hand, the Sri Lankan legend batted at an average of 39.07 in the tournament from 2007 to 2014 and hit one century, alongside a half-century. Courtesy of his half-century against the Netherlands, Kohli surpassed Caribbean superstar Chris Gayle in the elite record book. Gayle made his final T20 WC appearance in 2021 after scoring 965 runs at a strike rate of 142.75 in 33 games from the inaugural season onwards (2007).

Virat Kohli's T20I career in a nutshell

Kohli already tops the list of cricketers to score the most T20I runs in their career. The 33-year-old leads the chart with a tally of 3856 runs in 111 T20I matches at an average of 52.82 and a strike rate of 138.45. The former India captain has scored one century and 35 fifties in the shortest format of cricket. Current India skipper Rohit Sharma is the overall second-highest run-scorer with 3794 runs in 144 matches, which includes four hundred and 29 half-centuries.

The India vs South Africa T20 World Cup 2022 match will begin at 4:30 PM IST on Sunday.