IND vs AFG: Virat Kohli Interviewed By Rohit Sharma After His 71st International Century
Published - 09 Sep 2022, 02:05 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 09:10 AM
One-thousand-twenty days and 83 international innings since he last scored a hundred, Virat Kohli got his elusive No. 71 in a T20 international against Afghanistan in India’s final match of the Asia Cup. Given the opportunity to open the innings in the absence of the resting captain, Rohit Sharma, Kohli played a vintage inning, going from 10 off 10 to 50 off 32 and then scoring 63 off the last 21 balls he played.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar then returned figures of 4-1-4-5 with an each-way swing to leave Afghanistan reeling. India romped to a 101-run victory in Dubai thanks in large part to Kohli’s unbeaten 122 from 61 deliveries.
It Was A Quite A Special Day For Us: Virat Kohli
When Rohit interviewed Kohli following the game, he spoke candidly about his innings and eventually snapping an almost three-year century drought.
What happens when @ImRo45 interviews @imVkohli ☺️ ?
Laughs, mutual admiration & a lot of respect ?- by @ameyatilak
Full interview ?️https://t.co/8bVUaa0pUw #TeamIndia | #AsiaCup2022 | #INDvAFG pic.twitter.com/GkdPr9crLh
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 9, 2022
“It was quite a special day for us. As a team, we had spoken after the last match that it matters what kind of attitude we play this match with. Because this tournament was important for us.
We got exposure to knockout stages, we got exposure to pressure, but we all know what our goal is. It’s the World Cup in Australia and we are improving for that and we will learn from the matches we lost,” Kohli told Rohit.
“Personally, not just today but from the time that I returned to the team, I got a big break, and quite a few things came into perspective. And from you guys and the management, the communication was clear — to just let me bat.
That was very important for me. The space I got from all of you guys, it really helped me relax in that whole phase. And when I came back, I was excited about how I could contribute to the team,” he added.
“I wanted to play like this because we have a big World Cup coming up, and if I play like this, I’ll be contributing more,” he said.
Virat Kohli Pleasantly Surprised By First T20I Century
In addition, Kohli said that he was “pleasantly surprised” to have scored a century in the T20 format after such a lengthy absence.
Prior to Thursday, Kohli had never achieved a T20I tonne despite having 27 test hundreds and 43 ODI ones.
Additionally, Kohli spoke with the new India captain about how he had been attempting to work harder than usual, which was not his natural game, and how returning to playing his strokes and looking for openings had helped him restore his touch.
He also praised KL Rahul for his excellent half-century and stressed the importance of Rahul entering the World Cup in “good shape” for the squad.
