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Follow Us1020 days, the clock and the days were ticking as the Indian fans were desperate for the 33-year-old Virat Kohli to bring up his 71st international century. His last international century came against Bangladesh on November 22, 2019 at the iconic Eden Gardens.
However, since then, Kohli has been in great touch but never converted the starts into a triple-figure score. On Thursday, all of that changed, as the right-hander brought up his first T20I century in some style, thwarting the Afghanistan bowling attack to all parts of the ground, including scoring a six to get to his century.
Speaking on Kohli, India’s skipper KL Rahul revealed that the former skipper’s mindset and attitude over the last two years never changed. He also backed Kohli, stating that he was still one of India’s best batters statistically over the last three years. Having said that, Rahul believes that this century will instill more confidence in the right-hander.
“The celebration was a big relief to Kohli, I feel. There wasn’t any difference to his mindset or attitude in the last two years. I think we are also obsessed with numbers and gauge a player on the basis of the three-figure mark. He is still phenomenal and has been in our best batters in the white-ball format over the last two years,” Rahul said in the post-match press conference.
"Even during this phase, he has remained in the moment, he has remained patient. It is a big learning curve for us in the group. Kohli has focused brilliantly well on the basic things, which has led to this moment. This hundred will give him even more confidence.”
Throughout the innings, the former Indian skipper found the gaps in the field and the boundaries with relative ease, finishing with a strike-rate of 200, having scored 122 off 61 deliveries. Rahul praised the knock stating that Kohli scoring runs is a huge bonus for Team India, quashing all question marks over his form.
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“Obviously, Virat (Kohli) scoring runs is a huge bonus for the team. I know he is very pleased with how he has batted today. He has been working hard in the past two series. Before the T20 World Cup, it is important for our key batters to find their feet. You know Kohli, he can find runs anywhere in the batting order. It is all about roles and the way they execute it. He executed that brilliantly today and there is no question mark over him.”
Throughout the tournament, India made some interesting selection calls. One of it was to leave Ravi Bishnoi to the bench despite his performance against Pakistan. Rahul insisted that the youngster has to wait for his opportunity in the presence of veteran Yuzvendra Chahal.
“Obviously, Ravi Bishnoi played very well against Pakistan, he was great in the Windies series as well. Wherever he has got the opportunity, he has done very well. He is a very promising youngster, he has been with the team, that only means that the team believes in his talent. Having said that, he has to wait for his opportunity,” he stated.
Rahul also talked about the mindset of the current management, stating how they want to give the long-rope and cushion to the players who have done well for the country in the past.
Yuzi (Yuzvendra Chahal) has been a match-winner for us for a long time, we want to recognize that as a team. We want to give players who have done well the cushion and the comfort. All of us in this team have had forms going up and down. We don’t analyze the team just by numbers, we talk about the roles more importantly.”
India will be next up against the World Champions Australia, with the first fixture starting on September 20.
