Hyderabad: Virat Kohli is one of the most popular names in the Indian cricket team and his rise has been one of the celebrated stories in Indian cricket. The right-handed batter has staggering numbers in his international career but this year has turned out to be a dismal year. In 2012, Kohli has amassed just 376 runs with an average of 25.06 which is the third-lowest Test average in a calendar year in his career.
The 36-year-old has risen through the ranks with his consistent performances over the years and earned his stature of becoming a key batter in the national side. In the ongoing series against Australia, Kohli has amassed 123 runs from four innings with an average of 41 and a single century.
Kohli owns an embarrassing record
Although Kohli scored a century in the second innings of the Perth Test, his record in the first innings has been poor. The right-handed batter has an average of only 13.22 in the first innings of the Test matches in 2024. Further, in the list of batters with the lowest first-innings averages with a minimum of 100 runs in the ongoing calendar year. Kohli stands third. Also, the list features only two specialist batters - Tom Blundell and Kohli. Tim Southee (13.18), Matt Henry (15.78) and Mitchell Starc (16) are the other three cricketers on the list. Starc and Henry having better averages than Kohli highlight the waning powers of the star Indian batter.
Lowest Average in First Innings in Tests in 2024 (100+ runs) #AUSvsIND
— M (@anngrypakiistan) December 16, 2024
- 13.17 - Tom Blundell
- 13.18 - Tim Southee
- 13.22 - Virat Kohli
- 15.78 - Matt Henry
- 16.00 - Mitchell Starc pic.twitter.com/Hhe9DReF38
In 2024, he featured in the away series against South Africa and the home series versus Bangladesh and New Zealand. He has scores of 46, 6, 47 0,1, 4, 5, 7 and 3 in the first innings of 2024.
Throughout the year, he only scored one fifty and one century each.
Virat Kohli now has the third-lowest average in the first innings of Tests in 2024 (among players with a minimum of 100+ runs).#ViratKohli #CricketTwitter #BGT2024 #AUSvsIND pic.twitter.com/qqLW6XHKop
— SportsInfo Cricket (@SportsInfo11983) December 16, 2024
Scores levelled at 1-1 in BGT
The ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy is levelled at 1-1 with two more Tests to go. Australia are in a dominant position in the second fixture in Brisbane and the results is important for both teams as they will impact their chances of qualifying for the WTC final.
