The Indian cricket team will return to action on Sunday, September 4 when the Rohit Sharma-led side will take on Pakistan in a high-voltage Asia Cup 2022 Super 4 clash in Dubai. This will be the second meeting between the arch-rivals after the Men in Blue registered a stunning 5-wicket win in a thrilling encounter against Pakistan in the opening game on August 28th.
The ongoing 2022 edition of the Asia Cup witnessed the return of former Indian captain and batting maestro Virat Kohli in international colors. Virat was rested for India’s last two limited-overs tours to West Indies and Zimbabwe. Virat Kohli, who was going through a lean patch, scored a steady 35 against Pakistan and remained unbeaten on 59 off 41 deliveries in the game against Hong Kong, forming a 98-run stand alongside Suryakumar Yadav as well.
While he has been receiving praises for his intent and for his dedication, however, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar feels that Kohli might want to give up on one format (t20I) of the game if Kohli wants to chase the 100 international century record – a record which is currently held by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
Speaking on his YouTube channel ahead of the high-clash game between India and Pakistan, Shoaib Akhtar said: “Virat Kohli hasn’t been middling the ball really well. Both innings were quite patchy. He scored 59, I wish him best. Mera ye hi mashwara hoga Kohli ko ki dekh lo World Cup tak (My only suggestion to Kohli is to just wait till the T20 World Cup), if this format suits your or doesn’t suit you. 30 centuries karni hain aur aage (you have to score 30 more centuries),”
Virat Kohli currently has 70 international centuries under his belt and he has been struggling badly to score a ton since November 2019. He said:“You can become the greatest player forever. You have to convince yourself that you are the greatest ever. This is going to be the hardest 30 centuries — if he scores. When he goes to the longet formats, he will get time to settle. Here, he is trying but the time is less, you have to maintain a good strike-rate, you have to ensure the team wins. He is positive, he is aggressive.. he is a great player, but I really want him to score a 100 centuries and break Sachin Tendulkar’s record. It looks impossible right now, but this man can do it,”
