Asia Cup 2022: I was a bit shocked as this was the format I least expected to get a century – Virat Kohli

The long wait is finally for Virat Kohli as the International century number 71 is finally here. Kohli scored his 70th hundred in the pink-ball Test match against Bangladesh at Kolkata in November 2019. Since then the world changed because of the Covid-19 pandemic and Kohli had to endure a tough time with his mental health as well as the form.

After finally breaking the voodoo by scoring an unbeaten knock of 122 off just 61 balls against Afghanistan in the team’s last match of Asia Cup 2022, Kohli admitted that the T20I format was the version of the game in which he least expected to score a century.

Kohli took his time in the initial phase of the innings but slowly changed gears. The right-hander timed the ball to perfection and batted at the top of his game to finally get to the three-digit mark. The talisman scored a dozen fours and half-a-dozen sixes to score a blistering knock.

Kohli’s 122 is his first century in the T20I format and it is also the highest score for any Indian batters in the shortest format of the game.

Kohli said after the innings break while talking to the host broadcasters, “It was indeed (the celebrations was worth a 1000 words). Very blessed, very grateful right now. The last two and half years has thought me a lot, I am going to turn 34 in November, so the celebrations are for the past. I have put a lot of things into perspective. I was a bit shocked as this was the format I least expected for a century to come any time soon. It is all Gods blessing, I have been working hard and this was just a moment which was very special for me and the team as well. It was an accumulation of a lot of things (on what was going on his mind when he reached the hundred). As I said, since I came back into the team, the team has been open, welcoming, helpful and given me space to work on my game.

Kohli dedicated the hundred to his wife, Anushka Sharma, who has been with him through thick and thin, and his daughter, Vamika.

He added, “I know there was lot of stuff going on on the outside but they really kept my perspective right and I kissed my ring in the celebrations as well, you see me standing like this right now and all the things being put in perspective has been done by one person, who stood by me through all these difficult times that is Anushka. This hundred is specially dedicated to her and our little daughter Vamika as well. When you have someone next to you, having conversations, putting the things in right perspective like I have been and Anushka has been by my side through these timeI, time away from the game has thought me a lot of things. When I came back I wasn’t desperate, I was grateful for what God blessed me before, people were talking about me not getting a hundred but I looked at how much he has given me already. That really calmed me down and relaxed me. I was just happy to come back, six weeks off, I was refreshed, I understood how tired I was mentally and physically, your competitiveness does not allow you to take that call and I wanted to be the best of version of myself for the team. When I came here, when I started playing in the nets, I felt like my old rhythm was coming back and it was about getting those performances in the middle.”

Kohli returning to form is a great sign for India before the T20 World Cup. The former Indian skipper looked at his best in the Asia Cup and this knock would have certainly taken the money off his back.