June 4 (Punjab Khabarnama) : Virat Kohli joined the Indian camp after the run-fest season in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper topped batting charts in the IPL 2024 before arriving in New York for the ICC T20 World Cup on Friday. Travelling for 16 hours to reach the Big Apple, Kohli was rested for India’s only warm-up game against Bangladesh at the Nassau County Cricket Ground on Saturday.
Kohli smashed a plethora of records in the ICC World Cup last year. The former India skipper will aim to end the trophyless drought of Rohit Sharma and Co. in ICC events this year. Emerging as the winner of the Orange Cap at IPL 2024, batting icon Kohli has been backed to dominate the batting charts in the 2024 edition of the ICC World T20 co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States.
‘Virat Kohli is coming off a terrific IPL’
In a video shared by the International Cricket Council (ICC) ahead of India’s World Cup opener against Ireland, former Australian skipper Steve Smith picked Kohli as the top run-getter of the tournament. “My top run-getter for this tournament will be Virat Kohli. He is coming off a terrific IPL and he is bringing in some great form and I think he will be the leading run-getter,” Smith said.
‘Virat Kohli or Jos Buttler’
Former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith also tipped Kohli to finish the tournament as the highest run-getter this year. “I am going with a top-order batter. Virat Kohli or Jos Buttler,” Smith said. Kohli surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most centuries with his 50th One Day International (ODI) ton in the 2023 World Cup. The top-scorer at the 2023 World Cup, run-machine Kohli holds the record for scoring the most runs in a single edition of the ICC World Cup. Kohli has also scored the most runs in the history of the T20 World Cup. The 35-year-old has 1141 runs in 27 games of the T20 World Cup. Kohli-starrer India will meet Ireland on Wednesday.
