Finally, on Thursday in Dubai, Virat Kohli tore apart the voodoo of his 71st international century by slamming a maiden T20I ton against the hapless Afghanistan bowler in their last Super 4 match of the Asia Cup 2022.
With India already out of the Asia Cup final race, Rohit Sharma was rested and Kohli was promoted to open the batting. The former skipper took this opportunity and completed the much-awaited 71st international century, joining Ricky Ponting at the second-highest position, ending a long wait of 1020 days.
Amid this, fans also trolled Babar Azam for his tweet back in July showing his support to Kohli when the Indian batter was going through a lean patch. In turn, now Babar’s form has dipped so much in this Asia Cup that he’s been displaced from the top of the T20I ranking by teammate opener Mohammad Rizwan.
On 14th July, Kohli was dismissed for 16 runs in the Lord’s ODI against England. Then, Babar Azam tweeted: “This too shall pass. Stay strong. #ViratKohli”. To which Kohli replied: “Thank you. Keep shining and rising. Wish you all the best”
Thank you. Keep shining and rising. Wish you all the best 👏
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) July 16, 2022
He returned fresh, energetic and more clear in his “perspective” in the Asia Cup 2022. Kohli started off the tournament with a crucial 35 against Pakistan in match-winning cause, followed by twin fifties- 59* vs Hong Kong and 60 vs Pakistan. He suffered a blip – a 4-ball duck vs Sri Lanka, but put up his best against Afghanistan to reach his maiden T20I ton.
Since this tweet, Kohli has 6 inns, 293 runs, 73 Average, 140 Strike Rate and hit a long-awaited century. https://t.co/ALGZ8f2HJC
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) September 8, 2022
On the opposite spectrum, Babar Azam is struggling for runs in the Asia Cup: the Pakistani skipper has managed scores of 10, 9, 14, and 0 in the competition so far.
Babar, who has lost his top T20I ranking to Rizwan, still has two more opportunities to get back to form in the tournament: Pakistan take on Sri Lanka in a pre-cursor to the final on Friday before they meet again in the final on Sunday.
India, meanwhile, will return home and will host Australia (3 T20Is) and South Africa (3 T20Is and 3 ODIs) before flying out to Australia for the T20 World Cup 2022 next month.
