'Virat Kohli played like King' - Irfan Pathan hails batter for winning ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year

Indian batsman Virat Kohli, who had a blast year in 2023, was adjudged as the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year 2024. Kohli was one of the top ODI run-scorers in the year 2023 and finished with 1377 runs from 27 games. Kohli slammed the most hundreds (8) in the year 2023 and also achieved many milestones in the format during the ODI World Cup 2023.

After Virat Kohli was adjudged as the ODI Cricketer of the Year 2023, former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan heaped praise on the former Indian captain. Pathan while speaking to Star Sports stated that Kohli is known by the name of ‘king’ amongst his fans and has played like the same throughout the year. The ODI World Cup was very special for Kohli as during the tournament he took the responsibility of the batting on himself and created mountains of runs.

Irfan Pathan heaps praise on Virat Kohli

Irfan Pathan wished that Virat Kohli continue the same performance every year and continue to score runs for the team. He said, “Virat Kohli is called king by his fans. In true sense, he played like a king throughout the year and scored amazing runs. When the time came for Virat Kohli to shine in the World Cup, he took full responsibility for batting. Scored a lot of runs throughout the year but the World Cup was very special.”

For a stellar World Cup, where he proved that he is indeed the ODI GOAT, there is no doubt in the minds of #SanjayManjrekar & #IrfanPathan that #KingKohli deserved his 4th ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year Award!

Watch him collect his award 🏆#Cricket pic.twitter.com/ABVIs5QgAS

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) January 26, 2024

“He also went ahead in terms of centuries. I had said that the player with whom he is standing shoulder to shoulder today, was the same player, the great Sachin Tendulkar. Virat Kohli has had a very special year since the beginning and has played match-winning innings. Especially the way the year has been in ODI cricket, he thoroughly deserves this award and may Virat Kohli continue his performance in the coming few more years.”

Virat Kohli went past Sachin Tendulkar and became the first batsman in the world to score 50 hundreds in ODI cricket. Kohli achieved the milestone during the ODI World Cup 2023 match against New Zealand played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The most special thing about the innings was he achieved the landmark in front of Tendulkar.

Ahead of the year 2023, runs almost dried up out of Virat Kohli‘s bat and he was not able to score centuries. Virat has dominated world cricket for over a decade and has also rained a lot of centuries in the last 12 or 13 years. However, the modern master was not able to score any century from 2019 to September 2022.

During this period of three years, Virat Kohli was able to get starts but was not able to convert them into hundreds. However, Kohli was able to break the drought of hundreds against Afghanistan during the Asia Cup 2022. Virat slammed his 71 international century against the Afghani team, which was the most awaited moment for many Indian fans.

Since then, Virat Kohli has regained his lost touch and since then has been scoring runs like he used to do before.