India’s Top 3 batters in 2023 across formats

The cricketing of 2023 has come as far as India is concerned. India’s Top 3 batters in 2023 across formats series against NZ, AUS and SL Asia Cup, ODI World Cup. The cricketing calendar of 2023 has come to an end as far as India is concerned. There have been many special moments for India in the year. Starting from the bilateral series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka which were won by India, the players started to prepare for the big tournaments like the Asia Cup 2023 and the ODI World Cup 2023. Likewise, there was a big task ahead of the Test side.

The challenge was to beat Australia to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final in 2023. India did qualify for it but lost eventually. The focus then shifted to preparation for the big tournaments. India won the Asia Cup 2023 and came close to winning the ODI World Cup 2023. Players gave their best in most of the tournaments but were unlucky to win the big matches. 2023 in a single term was a ‘Mixed Bag’ for India. 

But there were many good performers for India throughout the year. The batters stepped up and made the year memorable. India did not play a lot of Test matches. But there were a lot of ODIs and T20Is being played by India in the year. Some batters played Tests along with ODIs and some others played T20Is more along with ODIs. Irrespective of everything, the focal point of the year was ODIs.

Here are the Top 3 batters of India in 2023 across formats.

3. Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill had a breakthrough year in 2023. In fact, he had one in 2022. But 2023 was on a whole new level for him. The youngster transformed himself from being a prolific run-getter to a match-winner with the bat. There were many instances where he won the matches for the side, particularly in ODIs. He scored over 1500 runs in the year and not many have done it in the past. ODIs were his best format without a doubt.

He scored a double hundred against New Zealand. He scored a lot of hundreds against teams like Sri Lanka, Australia, and others. He was the leading run scorer in the Asia Cup 2023 and played a key role in India’s ODI World Cup 2023 campaign despite suffering a dengue fever. His best knock of the year was 80 against New Zealand in the semifinal of the World Cup. He scored a T20I hundred against Sri Lanka and a Test hundred against Australia.

2. Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma was just sensational with the bat in both the formats he played. In ODIs Rohit was just a revelation. Cricket probably has not seen a more aggressive yet consistent batter in a year in ODIs like Rohit was in 2023. It was fun to watch him bat. The Indian captain was selfless and always kept his team above himself. There were flashes of brilliance whenever he batted in the middle. He took on the best bowlers in the world for fun.

Rather than milestones, Rohit looked to play impactful knocks, which was visible in the way he batted in the ODI World Cup 2023 where he scored close to 600 runs at an astonishing SR of over 123. Even in Tests, Rohit was brilliant and was one of the best batters in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023 which was a nightmare for the batters. He scored a Test hundred against the West Indies as well. The end was not perfect for Rohit, but he had a terrific one with the bat.

1. Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli was the batter of the year for India. Not many would have anticipated probably a year ago when he was touted to be ‘Done and dusted’ in cricket. But that’s what the champions do. They come back with a bang. Virat was a banger in 2023. There was a visible shift in confidence in the way he batted. He was freaking consistent as usual and brought out one of the best versions of himself. He had his best-ever ODI tournament in his career.

In the ODI World Cup 2023, Virat scored a whopping 765 runs in 11 innings, which is the highest for a batter in a single edition of the tournament by a huge margin. For the same, Virat was named the Player of the Tournament. In Tests, Virat had a memorable comeback. He scored a hundred in the format after more than 1200 days, which could not have come against a better opponent than Australia. He had a good series against the West Indies and capped off the year with a good innings against South Africa.