During his team's Super 12 encounter against Bangladesh on Wednesday, renowned Indian cricketer Virat Kohli passed Bangladesh to become the competition's all-time highest run-scorer in men's T20 World Cup history.
When Kohli scored 16 runs in the seventh over of India's innings, he broke Mahela Jayawardene's record of 1016 runs set by the former captain of Sri Lanka. The Indian batsman has now amassed 1065 runs in T20 World Cups with an average of 88.75 and a strike rate of over 132.46.
The 33-year-old, who was participating in his seventh T20 World Cup, made 12 half-centuries and, in only his 23rd innings, became the competition's highest run-getter. While Jayawardene faced less balls (754 balls) than Kohli did, he still played 31 innings to set his record (773).
Chris Gayle (965), Rohit Sharma (921) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (897) sit in third, fourth and fifth place on the list of all-time run scorers in T20 World Cup history, respectively, after Kohli and Jayawardene.
In his first T20 World Cup, Kohli scored 185 runs; in 2014, he led the competition in scoring; and in 2016, he finished second in scoring. He is the first male cricket player to have won the award twice, having been named Player of the Tournament in both the 2014 and 2016 editions. The most Player-of-the-Match accolades in the history of the competition were given to him with six.
Prior to being removed for 12 against South Africa, the great hitter, who entered the 2022 T20 World Cup with 845 runs, produced two back-to-back undefeated half-centuries — against Pakistan and the Netherlands.
In addition, the former captain of India owns the record for most runs scored in T20 international matches, surpassing players like Rohit, Martin Guptill, Babar Azam, and Paul Stirling.
India defeated Bangladesh by 5 runs using the DLS technique, moving to the top of Group 2 and edging closer to a spot in the T20 World semifinals thanks to Kohli's outstanding innings (64 not out from 44).