Dubai 28 August : South Africa batting greats AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis have felicitated the talismanic India batter Virat Kohli ahead of his 100th T20I appearance when India play the arch-rivals Pakistan in their Asia Cup Group A opening match on Sunday.Apart from the match on Sunday at the Dubai International Stadium marking Kohli’s return to international cricket following the tour of England ended on the 17th of July.
It will also mark his becoming the first India player and the second male cricketer following New Zealand’s Ross Taylor to clock 100 appearances in all three formats of international cricket.
In 99 T20I matches, Kohli 3308 runs at an average of 50.12 and a strike rate of 137.66.While he has yet to reach 100 in the T20I format, Kohli has 30 fifties on his record.He has also played for India in the 102 test series and in 262 ODIs thus far.
“I want to use this occasion to congratulate my dear friend Virat Kohli for becoming the first Indian cricketer to play 100 games across three formats.This is an incredible feat.
Virat We are all extremely happy of you and wish you all best in your 100th T20 International game.We will be watching you,” said de Villiers in a video message published by Star Sports, a long-time teammate of Kohli during his time playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Kohli who hasn’t hit 100 runs in international cricket since the month of November of 2019 and has only played four T20Is in the current season.He scored only 341 runs over 16 innings played for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2022.In that match, he was under du Plessis’ captaincy, with an average of 22.73 and with an average strike rate of 115.99.
“Hey, Virat.I wanted to drop you a short video message to express my congratulations for the 100th T20 International.It’s not just that, but also the but you’re the first Indian cricketer to have played more than 100 games across three formats.This is another amazing achievement that is a great addition to your list of amazing things you’ve already accomplished.”
“But I’m also eager to see in the next couple of years of what you’ll come up with What other interesting things we can expect from you.I’m sure that there’s a lot of fuel left in the tank of yours and I’m eager to see it.Good luck and congratulations for the Asia Cup,” added du Plessis.
The Group A match on Sunday will bring back the tradition of the ‘greatest rivalry’ in the game of cricket, when India and Pakistan will take to the field at Dubai International Stadium.It is also the first time they will meet two teams since they met in the men’s T20 World Cup last year in the UAE where Pakistan won a convincing 10-wicket win over India the first time they have achieved this victory in the World Cups for Men.
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