T20 World Cup: Who Has the Most Player of the Tournament Awards in T20 World Cup History?
Overview:
The 9th edition of the coveted T20 World Cup is already underway with a record-high 20 teams vying for the prestigious trophy. While the defending champions England would be hopeful of replicating their emphatic campaign from the last edition, their counterparts would try their level best to deny the Three Lions their shot at their third T20 World Cup triumph.
This edition of the tournament will be remembered for quite some time as it marks the advent of T20 Cricket on American soil, with the United States featuring in the tournament for the very first time, thanks to the direct qualification route for host nations.
The past eight editions of the tournament has witnessed the maestro of many legendary players who have lit up the World T20 stage with their electrifying performances. Many of them have them have even gone on to lift the prestigious trophy.
But there is only one such player who has won the Player of the Tournament Award twice and that too in two consecutive editions. With this emphatic feat, the player stands as the undisputed champion in the history of T20 World Cups with the most Player of the Tournament awards in the Championship.
T20 World Cup: Who Has the Most Player of the Tournament Awards in T20 World Cup History?
Virat Kohli:
The player with the most runs in the history of T20 World Cups, Virat Kohli stands as the champion who has achieved this remarkable feat by securing the prestigious Player of the Tournament accolade in two consecutive editions of the tournament in 2014 and 2016 respectively.
Despite a glorious display in both the editions Virat couldn’t take Team India past the victory line as the Men in Blue ended up losing in the knockout stages of the tournament.
Here is the link to the Cricwallah Classic that delves deeper into India’s failure at winning the T20 World Cup ever since the inception of the IPL:
https://cricwallah.com/india-never-won-a-single-t20-world-cup-ever-since-ipl-began/
Let’s take a closer look at Virat Kohli’s glorious campaign in T20 World Cup where he ended up winning the Player of the Tournament award
T20 World Cup, 2014:
The 2014 edition witnessed the rise of Virat Kohli in T20 Cricket with the star player amassing a magnificent 319 runs in just six innings- the most by any player in a single edition of the tournament’s history. With four half centuries including his crucial knock of 72 runs in the Semi-Finals against South Africa played a pivotal in leading India to the Finals of the tournament.
Here is the link to the video of Virat’s emphatic knock against the Proteas in the Semi-Finals:
https://youtu.be/6f4-0m0AgOA?si=COGC5vkF_0WHwbRx
Despite Virat’s emphatic knock of 77 runs in the Final match, Team India ended up suffering a humiliating defeat against Sri Lanka leading the Lankan Lions to their maiden T20 World Cup victory and that too over the same team that had defeated them in the Finals of ODI World Cup in 2011.
T20 World Cup, 2016:
The 2016 edition was really special as for the first time in the history of the championship, the T20 World Cup had arrived in India with the Men in Blue hopeful of replicating their 2011 heroics and lifting yet another World Cup on their home soil. This season too witnessed Kohli on the top of his game with the star batter hammering an impressive 273 runs- comprising 3 stupendous half centuries and two Player of the Match accolades.
With Virat Kohli’s commanding knock of 82 runs against Australia, India were through to the Semi-Finals of the tournament. It was almost a cut, copy, paste from last edition’s Final where despite Virat’s wonderful contributions, Team India succumbed to a humiliating defeat- owing to the disappointing performance by the other Indian players.
India lost the Semi-Finals to West Indies, who were subsequently crowned the Champions of the 2016 edition after a nail biting last over finish against England in the Finals which was held at the iconic Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata.