OTD in 2022: Virat Kohli scored his maiden century in T20Is; first in more than 1000 days
Virat Kohli (Source: Twitter)
Star India batter, Virat Kohli scored his maiden T20I century on September 8, 2022, during a Super Four encounter at the Asia Cup against Afghanistan. This was the former India skipper’s 71st international century of his career and this century came after a long period of 1021 days. Kohli scored his 70th ton during Team India’s first-ever home pink-ball Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens.
2022 was a very rough year for the 34-year-old. He had an average home season and a disappointing England tour. He was not part of the Indian team that traveled to the West Indies and Zimbabwe before the Asia Cup as he wanted to take some rest from the game and wanted to come fresh in the 2022 edition of the Asia Cup.
I am in this position where these things can be spoken about: Virat Kohli
Kohli ended up as the second-highest scorer of the tournament, however, the Indian Cricket Team was not able to make it to that season’s final. In the Asia Cup 2022, the Men in Blue was led by star India batter, KL Rahul as it was a dead rubber, and India’s regular skipper, Rohit Sharma decided to rest himself. Against Afghanistan, Kohli played an unbeaten knock of 122 runs off just 61 deliveries, which included 12 fours and six sixes in his innings. The right-hand batter was awarded the Player of the Match for his brilliant match-winning performance.
“I batted out of my skin, to be honest, and I surprised myself. What surprised me was my 60s became failures; quite shocking for me, batting pretty well and contributing but doesn’t seem to be enough. I can’t really pinpoint anything to anyone as I said God has blessed me with good things in the past and that’s why I am in this position where these things can be spoken about,” Kohli was quoted as saying in the post-match presentation after receiving the Man of Match award.
