After nearly three years, 1021 days to be precise, global superstar Virat Kohli ended his 71st-century drought with his maiden T20 international ton in the Super 4 game against Afghanistan at the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 on Thursday.
The former India skipper had previously smashed an international hundred during a pink-ball Test against Bangladesh on November 23, 2019, at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Kohli had to wait quite a long to hit his 71st ton, but it finally came back in the shortest format, where his previous best score was 94 against West Indies.
With the century, Kohli also became the sixth Indian to hit a ton in T20Is and the fourth to score a triple-figure score in all formats after Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. Kohli also equalled former Australia captain Ricky Ponting for the second-most international hundreds – 71. Now, the 33-year-old is only behind the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who has 100 international centuries to his name.
Speaking about his innings, Kohli ultimately finished with an unbeaten 122 from just 61 deliveries, which is the highest individual T20I score for India, surpassing Rohit’s 118 against Sri Lanka in Indore in 2017.
No wonder Kohli looked happy after scoring the hundred, and relief on his face was quite visible as he finally managed to get the monkey off his back. He took off his helmet and kissed his wedding ring after raising his bat to the supporters and teammates in the Indian dressing room.
Here is the video:
A long wait finally comes to an end.
𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐀 💯 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐊𝐎𝐇𝐋𝐈!
DP World #AsiaCup2022 #INDvAFG #BelieveInBlue #TeamIndia #KingKohli #71 pic.twitter.com/aypvxXYs6D
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) September 8, 2022
Kohli also dedicated his special century to his wife Anushka Sharma and their daughter Vamika. The Delhi-born said his wife stood by him in the challenging times and helped him to grow further.
“And I kissed my ring in the celebration as well. You see me standing here because of all the things that have been put into perspective by one person who stood by me through all these difficult times – that’s Anushka. This hundred is dedicated to her and to our little daughter Vamika as well. When you have someone next to me, putting things in the right perspective, like Anushka, who was with me all the side,” said Kohli in the post-innings interview.
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