Virat Kohli Smashes Elusive 71st Century With Six In Asia Cup Match vs Afghanistan. Watch

by

Virat Kohli reached his first international century since November 2019 with his first T20 ton for India, as his side won 212-2 against Afghanistan in the Asian Cup on Thursday. The star batsman was unbeaten on 122 of 61 deliveries with 12 fours and six sixs in Dubai after India batted in their final Super Four match after being eliminated from the tournament. Kohli, 33, hit a four and a six off pace bowler Fareed Ahmad to reach his first India ton in nearly three years — his last hundred coming in a Test against Bangladesh.

Watch: Virat Kohli Hits Sixth-Century Drought

His previous best in 103 T20Is was 94 not out since his 2010 debut.

He set up an opening score of 119 with KL Rahul, who made 62, to lay the groundwork for the massive total as the Afghan bowlers struggled on their second consecutive day on the field.

Kohli registered his third 50-plus score in the event, which serves as a tune-up for the T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November.

The Afghans suffered a heartbreaking loss to Pakistan on Wednesday as they went down one wicket to also drop out of the tournament.

Pakistan will face Sri Lanka in the final on Sunday.

The Indian openers started cautiously before Rahul and Kohli took it out on the opposition bowlers with a flurry of limits in the first six overs.

Kohli survived a dropped catch on 28 by Ibrahim Zadran in the deep end when the ball shot out of the fielder’s hands for a six and the star batsman then lifted his fifty into 32 balls.

Rahul reached his half-century with two straight borders from skipper Mohammad Nabi, but fell over in the next.

Fareed broke the century mark and two balls later Suryakumar Yadav threw for six.

The rest of the innings was for Kohli who hit the bowlers to all parts of the ground when he outranked Pakistani Mohammad Rizwan as the leading points scorer of the tournament with 276 in five games.

promoted

Kohli has also achieved 27 Test and 43 ODI centuries in a stellar career.

(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)

Topics mentioned in this article

Leave a Comment