Ahmedabad: Team India came unstuck yet again in a major ICC tournament final. It broke billions of hearts, especially after the way Rohit Sharma’s group of invincibles had won 10 matches on the trot, including the semifinal against New Zealand.
But, despite ending a distant second to nemesis Australia, the Indians can take consolation from some of the individual performances.
Virat Kohli enjoyed his best World Cup with an incredible tally of 765 runs – first time any batter has crossed 700 in a single edition – at an average of 95.62. He struck three centuries and six 50-plus scores, along the way touching the great Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI tons in the game vs South Africa and scoring his 50th in the semifinal.
Kohli took home the Player of the Tournament award for his sensational consistency.
Kohli was followed in the run-scorers’ chart by his captain Rohit Sharma, who was the most impactful Indian batsman and ended with 597 runs.
Indians had another top performer in Mohammad Shami, who finished top wicket-taker with 24 victims in just 7 games.
The skilful pacer didn’t find a place in India’s playing XI in the first four matches. But he was brought in after allrounder Hardik Pandya was injured and subsequently ruled out of the tournament.
The rest is history as the wicket-taking machine bagged three 5-wicket hauls, including a record 7/57.
