Virat Kohli is regarded as one of the finest batsmen in contemporary cricket and is arguably among the best white-ball players the world has ever seen. This is because Virat Kohli has been a run machine over the past decade and a half in international cricket since making his debut in 2008.
In the modern game, Kohli’s international record is second to none. After all, Kohli is the highest run-scorer among the active players currently playing international cricket with a whopping 25835 runs in 519 games for India across format at an incredible average of 53.44 which is the highest again by anyone who has scored over 10000 international runs. The former Indian skipper has made 75 international centuries and is only bested by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who has hit 100 international 100s in his glorious career.
His best format is, without any doubt, the One-day internationals or the 50-overs format, where Kohli has amassed a stunning 12898 runs at a jaw-dropping average of 57.32 in 274 ODI games for India and has hit 46 ODI centuries in the process. He is 5th on the list of all-time ODI run-getters and 2nd among century-makers.
But how has he fared in the ICC ODI World Cups, considered the pinnacle tournament in this format?
This article answers these questions below:
#1 How many runs did Virat Kohli score in every ODI World Cup and overall?
#2 How many centuries has he hit in the 50-over World Cup matches?
#3 How many MoM awards has Virat won in the World Cup matches?
Let us find out through this article.
Virat Kohli ODI World Cup – Runs and Centuries
| WORLD CUP EDITION | MATCHES | RUNS | AVERAGE | HIGH SCORE | 100/50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 9 | 282 | 35.25 | 100* | 1/1 |
| 2015 | 8 | 305 | 50.83 | 107 | 1/0 |
| 2019 | 9 | 443 | 55.37 | 82 | 0/5 |
| 2023 | 11 | 765 | 95.62 | 117 | 3/6 |
| OVERALL | 37 | 1795 | 59.83 | 117 | 5/12 |
Key insights from the above statistics
1 – Virat Kohli scored his first World Cup century in the very first match of his ODI WC career. He made an unbeaten 100 in the tournament opener in Dhaka, Bangladesh, against the home team. This was also the game where Sehwag scored a sensational 175, and India won rather convincingly.
282 – Despite his well-crafted century against Bangladesh, Kohli could muster only 282 runs in his maiden World Cup campaign, but it included a crucial half-century against West Indies at Chennai and an important 35 in the all-important final against Sri Lanka at Mumbai. He and Gambhir bailed India out of trouble in a tense run-chase. Though his score was not much when we look at it now, it was vital in resurrecting India’s innings.
2 – Virat Kohli made his 2nd ICC World Cup century, again in India’s 2015 WC opening game against the arch-rivals Pakistan at the Adelaide Cricket Ground. India went on to win the game easily by 76 runs, and Kohli won his first Player of the Match award in World Cups.
0 – Surprisingly, the century in the opener was the only 50+ score Kohli made in the entire tournament, and it can be attributed to the fact that the duo of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, opening for the first time in World Cups for India, scored truck loads of runs in the series, and Kohli didn’t have much of a chance to make it a big one.
305 – Despite not making big scores in the tournament, Kohli scored 305 runs at an average of over 50, which shows the consistency with which he batted throughout the World Cup. India made it to the tournament’s semi-final, where they, unfortunately, lost to the eventual champions Australia and Kohli could score only 1 in the knockout game.
443 – Virat Kohli made a whopping 443 runs in the 2019 World Cup and finished as the joint 10th-highest run-getter of the tournament, along with England’s Jason Roy. Kohli averaged a sensational 55.38 in the 9 innings he played in the World Cup at a strike rate of over 94. He, along with the Indian openers Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Shikhar Dhawan (injured midway through the World Cup), held India’s batting order together in the campaign.
5 – The former Indian skipper Kohli made 5 half-centuries in the 2019 World Cup, and it all came in 5 consecutive games, including against the eventual champions England, arch-rivals Pakistan, and Australia. He didn’t have much of an opportunity to convert those into big ones as the openers invariably provided India with good starts, and Kohli didn’t get that many overs to make it to a century. Kohli scored 30 plus on 6 of the 9 times he batted, and the only time he scored less than 10 (1) was in the semi-final against New Zealand, which India eventually lost.
2 – Kohli received his 2nd Man of the Match award in World Cups in a league game against West Indies, where he made crucial match-winning 72 runs at Old Trafford.
14 – The number of catches Virat Kohli took as a fielder in the 26 games he has featured for India in World Cups across the 3 different editions but is yet to pick up a wicket with the ball in hand.
9 – Virat Kohli led India in the 2019 Cricket World Cup campaign held in England, and India won 7 out of those games. This makes him one of the most successful captains for India in World Cups, but at the same time, one of the two losses came in the Semi-finals of the WC, where India lost to New Zealand at Old Trafford by a close margin of 18 runs, and thus bowing out of the tournament.
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