AHMEDABAD, India — India batting star Virat Kohli extended his record run tally at a Cricket World Cup to 765 from 11 games on Sunday — though the achievement will feel diminished after his team lost the final to Australia.
It is the most runs scored by a batter in a single World Cup, with Kohli bettering yet another Sachin Tendulkar record.
India great Tendulkar had scored 673 runs in 11 matches at the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.
King Kohli, as he’s sometimes known, had already crossed that tally in the first semifinal against New Zealand in Mumbai, where India won by 70 runs.
On that day, Kohli had broken Tendulkar’s record for the most ODI hundreds, scoring his 50th century — 117 runs — to become the foremost batter in the 50-over format.
Kohli then added 54 off 63 balls against Australia in the World Cup final on Sunday in Ahmedabad, where he helped rescue India from a precarious 81-3 and scored his 72nd ODI half-century. But his efforts went in vain as Travis Head’s 137 helped Australia beat India by six wickets to win its sixth World Cup.
Kohli finished the campaign with an astonishing average of 95.62 in 11 innings and was named player of the tournament. He scored three hundreds — against Bangladesh, South Africa and New Zealand — as well as six half-centuries in the tournament.
Kohli is the only batter to score in excess of 700 runs in a single World Cup.
Hailing from India’s capital city, Delhi, Kohli has featured in 292 ODIs and scored 13,848 runs.
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