“You have always been a warrior”: Mahela Jayawardene lauds Virat for breaking his T20 WC record

Melbourne: Former Sri Lankan batter Mahela Jayawardene congratulated star Indian batter Virat Kohli on breaking his record of most runs in the history of the ICC T20 World Cup event.

Star Indian batter Virat Kohli on Wednesday became the highest run-scorer in the history of the ICC T20 World Cup.
“Records are meant to be broken. There was always someone who was going to break my record and it is you Virat, congratulations mate. Brilliant. You have always been a warrior. Form is temporary, class is permanent. Well done mate,” said Jayawardene in a video posted by ICC.

Virat accomplished this record during his side’s crucial Group 2, Super 12 match of the tournament against Bangladesh in Adelaide, which India won.

He scored an unbeaten 64 of 44 balls in the match. His knock consisted of eight boundaries and a six. His strike rate during the innings was 145.45.

With this, Virat’s record in T20 WC is – 1,065 runs in 23 innings across 25 matches at an average of 88.75. 13 half-centuries have come off his bat, with the best score of 89*. His strike rate in the tournament is 132.46.

He has surpassed Sri Lankan great Mahela Jayawardene, who scored 1,016 runs in 31 matches at an average of 39.07. One century and six half-centuries have come off his bat in this tournament, with best of 100.

Other top T20 World Cup batters are: West Indies legend Chris Gayle (965 runs), Indian skipper Rohit Sharma (921) and Sri Lankan great Tilakaratne Dilshan (897).

Notably, Virat has been in fantastic form since the Asia Cup. During that tournament, he made his return to international cricket after a month, a break he took after months of battling inconsistent form.

Since then, Virat has scored 624 runs in 14 innings at an average of 78.00. One century and six fifties have come out of his bat, with best of 122*.