Virat Kohli registers his slowest T20I half-century

Until the T20 World Cup 2024, Virat Kohli’s record at the T20 World Cups was numero uno. 

He was often used as a synonym for consistency. With 1141 runs in just 25 innings before this World Cup, he averaged a staggering 81.5 while maintaining a strike rate of 131.3. After all, he is the highest run-scorer across T20 World Cups, has the most fifties at the global event (14), and notches above everyone else. 

But even for the greatest of white-ball batters that the game has witnessed, the 2024 event was a lull. Trusted to open for the first time, Kohli had a tournament to forget, with just 75 runs across seven innings, with his lowest-ever average (10) in a T20 World Cup. 

What was even more shocking, however, was that Kohli’s strike rate, which was hovering at 100. And Kohli couldn’t have asked for a better occasion than the final to show his calibre and help India lift their second-ever T20 World Cup title. 

At Barbados, India helped themselves even better, winning the toss and batting first. In his first five deliveries at the crease, Kohli showed what he is capable of with a five-ball 14 with three elegant boundaries. The right-hander from thereon even took on Keshav Maharaj in his first over, with a four through the extra cover region. 

All of that aggression, however, stopped once Suryakumar Yadav holed out. In the next seven deliveries, all he could get was singles, taking his score to 31 off 26. It didn’t change much in the next six deliveries, with just eight runs.

Meanwhile, at the other end, Axar Patel played a blinder, taking on the two spinners in equal measures with four sixes and a four. Once Quinton de Kock ran him out in brilliant fashion, the onus to take on the scoring rate was up to Shivam Dube while Kohli was playing second-fiddle. 

Despite being well-set, the former Indian skipper was completely scratchy till he got to his milestone, which also happened to be his slowest-ever T20I half-century, off 48 balls. Before his display here against South Africa, Kohli’s previous slowest T20I 50 came back in 2021, when India lost the clash against Pakistan by ten wickets. It was also the second-slowest T20I half-century in T20 World Cup knockouts, with David Hussey's 49-ball 50 being the slowest, way back in 2010 at the same venue. 

However, post his half-century, Kohli sped up things when he scored 26 off 11 deliveries before he eventually holed out to Kagiso Rabada in the deep, departing for a 59-ball 76, with six fours and two sixes. 

Eventually, India finished with 176/7, the highest-ever total in a T20 World Cup final.

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