Asia Cup 2022: Virat Kohli slams maiden T20I century, ends debate on form with elusive 71st century

Dubai, Sep 8: Virat Kohli's wait for his much-awaited 71st international century finally came to an end as the batting maestro slammed his maiden T20I century in the Asia Cup Super 4 match against Afghanistan here at Dubai International Stadium on Thusday (September 8).

The right-handed batter - who last slammed his international century in 2019 - waited for 1021 days to be precise to get to the elusive milestone. His unbeaten effort off 61 balls got him his first hundred since November 2019 and with that (71st century) he equalled Ricky Ponting's tally of international hundreds. He is now only behind Sachin Tendulkar in the all-time list.

Team India came up with a new opening combination in KL Rahul and Virat Kohli in the inconsequential Super 4 match. The duo opened the innings as regular captain Rohit Sharma was rested for the dead rubber and gave Team India a fluent start.

The two right-handed batters started batting cautiously in the powerplay as they could only add nine runs on the board in the first two overs. However, the duo switched gears in the remaining four overs of the powerplay and created a record as it was the first instance when India didn't lose any wickets in the first six overs. India's scorecard read 52/0 after 6 overs as Kohli and Rahul contributed almost equally with the bat. The duo shared a stand of 119 off 76 balls for the opening wicket.

While KL Rahul (62 off 41) was dismissed while trying to up the ante, Kohli had to slow down as Surykumar Yadav (6) departed in the same over. But with Rishabh Pant at the other end, Kohli didn't slow down and he started toying with Afghanistan bowlers and even took Rashid Khan to the cleaners.

Kohli kept playing with the field and bowlers towards the end of the innings, enough indication that the batting maestro was back to his best. It was vintage Kohli on display as he stepped out to the spinners, pierced the field perfectly and even played a rare sweep shot. That sweep shot came in the sixth over bowled by Mujeeb Ur Rehman. The next ball he came down the track to hit a straight six.

The former India captain also got lucky on his way to a memorable hundred as he was dropped in the deep off Mohammad Nabi in the eight over. With India at 87 for no loss in 10 overs and Kohli on song, India looked set for a massive total. It was raining boundaries in the last five overs as Kohli reached the elusive three figure mark with a crisp pull shot off pacer Fareed Ahmed. He took his helmet off and smiled before kissing his necklace as part his celebration. He ended the innings in style by smashing two sixes and a four off Fazalhaq Farooqi to push India past 200.