Virat Kohli Goes Past Tendulkar, Williamson For Huge Record With World Cup 2023 Run

Virat Kohli in action against AUS at the 2023 World Cup final (AP)

Indian batting stalwart Virat Kohli charted a fighting half-century against Australia at the 2023 World Cup final. His 54-run knock extended his competition tally to 765 runs, which fittingly helped him bag the 'Player of the Tournament' award.

Kohli shattered several batting records through the course of his 2023 World Cup blitz, including several milestones previously held by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. As it turned out, the 35-year-old silently added another record to his name through his innings against Australia at the title clash to go past Tendulkar and active New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson.

Virat Kohli tops Tendulkar and Williamson for this record

Virat Kohli notched up nine scores of fifty or more out of 11 World Cup 2023 innings for India. Moreover, the modern-day batting legend converted three of them into match-winning tons, finishing the tournament with 765 runs (a record for a single edition) to his name.

Holding a Bradman-esque average of 95.62 while striking at above 90, Kohli collectively batted for 19 hours and 56 minutes throughout the competition. His batting runtime took him past his former teammate Sachin Tendulkar and New Zealand batting icon Kane Williamson for the record of batting most hours in a single World Cup edition.

---

ALSO READ

'Chin Up And..' - Yuvraj Singh Urges Virat Kohli & Co. To Feel Proud Despite WC Final Loss

---

Williamson previously batted for close to 19 hours during his 2019 World Cup run-fest in England, while Tendulkar batted for nearly the same time period during the tournament's 2003 chapter. 

After Virat Kohli's timely affair with the bat in 2023, here is a look at an updated list of the top three batters with the highest number of batting hours to their name in a single World Cup edition:

Players with most hours batted in a single World Cup:

Remarkably, much like Sachin Tendulkar and Kane Williamson in 2003 and 2019 respectively, Virat Kohli’s Team India also fell short of the ultimate World Cup glory in the final. The cricketer rebelled with a fighting 54 in the 2023 title clash in Ahmedabad, and emerged as one of the biggest benefactors of India’s 240-run effort upfront.

The total, however, was easily overhauled by Australia in the run-chase, who overcame new-ball jitters and capacity Ahmedabad crowd to bag their sixth World Cup title.

---

ALSO READ

Kohli, Rohit, Shami, Bumrah In; Here’s ICC World Cup Team Of The Tournament

---