Kohli’s ODI average in 2022 lowest since debut, scores 189 runs at 18.90 this year

Kohli’s ODI average of 18.90 in 2022 is his worst in a calendar year. Previously, his lowest average in a calendar year was 31.80 in 2008, the year he made his international debut.

Virat Kohli is clean bowled by Ebadot Hossain in the second ODI against Bangladesh on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: AP

Virat Kohli’s form of late in One-Day Internationals has been concerning. In what used to be his preferred format - he still averages a whopping 57.21 in ODIs - Kohli has managed only 189 runs in 10 matches in 2022 at a dismal average of 18.90. Scores of 9 and 5 in the first two ODIs of the ongoing series against Bangladesh haven’t helped either.

Kohli’s ODI average of 18.90 in 2022 is his worst in a calendar year. Previously, his lowest average in a calendar year was 31.80 in 2008, the year he made his debut. Since then, he has averaged under 40 in a calendar year only once before 2022 - 36.64 in 2015. Kohli’s most successful year in ODIs - in terms of average - was 2018 when he averaged 133.55 in the 14 matches that he played that year. The preceding year - 2017 - was his most fruitful in terms of runs scored (1460 runs in 26 matches).

The ongoing Bangladesh series was considered a perfect platform for Kohli to get to scoring runs in his favourite format. He was coming off a stellar T20 World Cup campaign, where he was the top run-scorer with 296 runs in six matches which included four fifties. However, Kohli, playing his first ODI since July, was stunned by a Litton Das stunner and walked back for 9 before dragging a short ball onto his stumps for 5 in the second ODI.

Scores of 51 and 65 in the ODI series against South Africa in January are the only meaningful contributions Kohli has made with the bat this year. In 10 innings in 2022, the former skipper has been dismissed five times in single digits. Moreover, 2022 is the only year ever since his debut in 2008 where Kohli has not hit a single six in ODIs.

With India set to play its last ODI of 2022 on Saturday, Kohli has one final chance to make amends. While the prospects of his numbers in 2022 improving are bleak, he will hope to sign off the year on a high, perhaps even a century - which has eluded him since August 2019 - and head into ODI World Cup-year 2023 with confidence.

VIRAT KOHLI IN ODIS IN 2022

Matches	Runs	Average	Strike Rate	Highest	100s	50s
10	189	18.90	73.82	65	0	2

* Stats updated before India vs Bangladesh third ODI on December 10, 2022