Dubai 8th of September : Virat Kohli ended his run of not making 100 runs in international cricket for more than 1020 days with the most impressive career-high of score of 122 in just 61 deliveries to propel India up to 212/2 over Afghanistan in an infamous dead-rubber of Super Four stage in Asia Cup 2022 at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday.Since captain Rohit Sharma was off, Kohli was promoted to start the bat with the skipper in stand-in KL Rahul.
After a rousing first standing of 119 off 76 balls Kohli quickly accelerated from 59 off just 40 balls to score his 72th run in only 21 balls.
His unbeaten 122, which was laced with 12 sixes and six fours as well as which was a mix of classical and brutal shots of cricket was scored at a strike rate of 200 which is the highest score ever recorded by an Indian male batter in T20Is.
Kohli is now joined by the former Australia captain Ricky Ponting in scoring 71 international centuries, the second highest in the list of scores compiled by India cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar who scored 100.
After the first two innings showed nothing but limits, India got going as Rahul and Kohli hit four each through the leg side of Fazalhaq Farooqui.Rahul was then able to pull Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the backward square leg, before cutting and removing Fareed Ahmed to hit a pair of fours.
Kohli became aggressive mode after slaying Mujeeb for fours down the ground before sweeping across the backwards square leg, before concluding the powerplay with an obscene six that slammed into the ground.
Post-power-play, Rahul pulled Rashid Khan for six over the deep mid-wicket.Kohli was dropped on 28 after Ibrahim Zadran parried the ball after a misshit on Mohammad Nabi’s boundary rope to add six more.
Kohli appeared in sparkling form, with an inside-out loft over extra cover being the highlight to get his fifty in 32 balls.The next ball, Rahul got his fifty in 36 balls with loft and pull, which brought successive fours off Nabi.
However, in an attempt to go large, Rahul pulled on a cross-seam ball from Ahmed and the top-edge flew long-on.Suryakumar Yadav flicked nonchalantly over the fine leg to score six with the first ball.
However, on the following ball he cut his stumps Ahmed.
Kohli was awe-inspiring in the face of spin in his knock, soaring Rashid over the deep mid-wicket to score six.He then increased the ante with consecutive flicks of fours off Ahmad and smashed a pair of fours off off-side off Farooqui.
After hammering Ahmed to the track in the 19th over Kohli scored his maiden T20I century in 53 balls with a six that was pulled high over deep mid-wicket, netting six.Farooqui was brought in for another crushing in the closing over, as Kohli crushed him for sixes over the long-off and the deep mid-wicket, before slamming the cover with a four to get 18 runs off the last over.
Brief Scores: India 212/2 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 122 not out, KL Rahul 62; Fareed Malik 2/57) against Afghanistan
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