E-Paper
Sign in
Why the current version of Virat Kohli is faster, meaner and even more dangerous than his prime years
At 37, Virat Kohli's current ODI-focused approach mirrors his peak performance from 2011-2018, yet he hits sixes more frequently.
The scariest thing about Virat Kohli in 2025 is that his numbers look like 2016 again - only louder.
At 37, what is effectively an ODI-only avatar, he is scoring at the same outrageous average as his prime, while hitting sixes far more often than he did in his twenties.
Put simply, the younger Kohli assassinated with consistency and percentage cricket; the current one hurts you more with his six-hitting prowess. Is this updated version of Kohli even more dangerous than the 2016-18 version? Let us delve deeper into this argument.
The Virat Kohli peak - the run-machine years
Take 2011 to 2018, the era everyone calls peak Virat Kohli. Across those eight years, he played 171 ODI innings, scored 8,753 runs, and was dismissed 139 times. That works out to an average of 63.0 at a strike rate of 94.90. He hit 34 Hundreds, reached 50 or more in 42% of his innings, and cleared the ropes 103 times from 9,233 balls.
Even zooming into the absurd 2016-18 stretch - 3,401 runs in 50 innings at an average of 94.50, strike rate 100.5 with 15 hundreds - the pattern is clear. He was a classical no.3: ruthless with risk management, extremely difficult to dismiss, more about threading fours than going aerial. Across those prime years, he hit only 1.12 sixes per 100 balls, roughly one big shot every fifteen overs.
That version of Kohli killed you slowly. The question for Kohli 2.0 is: what happens when the same player decides to hit you harder, earlier and more often?
Also Read: Virat Kohli's race to Tendulkar's mythical 100 centuries record: Number of years needed for him - statistical prediction
Kohli 2.0 - older, faster, meaner
Now, let us isolate his current phase, 2023 to 2025. It is still a smaller sample: 40 innings, 2,086 runs. But look at the rate numbers.
He’s been dismissed 32 times in this window, translating his average to 65.20. His strike-rate has climbed to 97.7, nearly three runs per hundred balls quicker than in 2011-18. He already has nine hundreds, meaning one every 4.4 innings, and has passed 50 in more than half his knocks (21 fifty-plus scores; 52.5%)
The real jolt comes from the power column. From 2,135 balls, he has hit 37 sixes - that’s 1.73 sixes per 100 balls, a 55% jump on his first prime. The balls-per-six metric crashes from 89.5 to 57.5. In plain English: bowlers now seem him launch one into the stands roughly every ten overs instead of every fifteen.
The six-hitting surge
In his first prime, he averaged a six an innings only once across a full year (2014: 20 sixes in 20 innings). Even the 2016-18 god-mode block delivered 43 sixes in 50 innings - one every 78.7 balls.
Now look at the current run. In 2023, he hit 24 sixes in 24 innings; in 2025, it is 13 in 13. Both years sit at exactly one six per innings, yet they come with averages of 72.47 and 65.10 and strike rates of 99.13 and 96.15. That is not slogging. That is a veteran tightening his scoring options and deciding that when he does take the aerial route, he is going all in.
He no longer plays every format. He no longer bats every second day. What remains is a stripped-down, ODI-only specialist who still averages mid-sixties but has cranked his six-hitting and scoring speed to career-high levels. From a bowler’s viewpoint, that combination - durability plus increased damage - is what makes Kohli 2.0 feel more dangerous than the previous one.
