Virat Kohli vs Lasith Malinga is one of the most legendary batter vs bowler rivalries in the modern era. Both these players are some of the best to have ever played the sport in their respective disciplines. Lasith Malinga has retired but Virat Kohli is still going strong. They have had a few memorable encounters against each other. It is also important to look at their individual stats.
Let’s look at Virat Kohli vs Lasith Malinga Head to Head and Stats
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli is one of the greatest batters to have ever played the sport of cricket. Virat Kohli has been playing for 16 years and he still has the hunger to play at the highest level. He has played 113 Test Matches till now in which he has scored 8848 runs at an average of 49.16. He has also played 292 ODIs for India. He has made 13848 runs in ODI Cricket. He has hit 50 Hundreds in ODI Cricket. In 117 T20IS for India he has made 4037 Runs for India. Virat Kohli has hit 80 international Hundreds.
Lasith Malinga
Lasith Malinga is one of the most fearsome fast bowlers to have played international cricket in the past 15+ years. Lasith Malinga had the most unorthodox action. He played 30 Test Matches for Sri Lanka in which he took 101 Wickets. He took 3 Five Wicket Hauls in Test Cricket. In 226 ODIs he took 338 Wickets in ODI Cricket at an average of 28.88. He has taken 8 Five Wicket Hauls in ODI Cricket. In 84 T20Is for Sri Lanka he has taken 107 Wickets with 2 Five Wicket Hauls. He has taken a total of 546 international wickets. Here you can find Best bowling performances of Lasith Malinga
Head to Head
The head to head between Virat Kohli vs Lasith Malinga is as follows:
In 20 Innings of ODI Cricket, Virat Kohli has scored 225 runs against Lasith Malinga at a strike rate of 103. Lasith Malinga has gotten him out twice
In 4 T20I innings and 8 IPL innings Virat Kohli has made 58 and 34 runs respectively. Lasith Malinga has not been able to get him out even once
Source: Mykhel
Memorable Encounters between the Kohli and Malinga
One of the most memorable encounters between the two was in 2012 in the tri series in Hobart. Virat Kohli smashed 24 runs in an over to Lasith Malinga to all parts of the ground and that is the day he became the best. He made 133 not out in just 86 balls to win the match for India.
It was in the 2017 series where in one match Lasith Malinga got to the landmark of 300 ODI wickets. However it was the day of Virat Kohli as he and Rohit Sharma had a 219 run partnership which resulted in India beating Sri Lanka by 168 runs.
