Virat Kohli hit his first T20I century for India on September 8 against Afghanistan in the Super 4 match of the ongoing Asia Cup T20 tournament. The 33-year-old batter needed 53 balls to reach the milestone. In the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat came to bat as an opener for India against Mohammad Nabi & Co. and stayed there until the end, scoring 122 runs from 61 balls.
Virat broke a slew of records during his best T20I innings for India, the most notable of which is that he now holds the record for the highest ever T20I score by an Indian batter. He shattered Rohit Sharma’s record.
On December 22, 2017, Rohit, who has four centuries in the shortest format, scored 118 runs from 43 balls against Sri Lanka in Indore.
Rohit’s total was the highest by any Indian batter until September 8, when Kohli took over. Virat Kohli was on fire against Afghanistan and looked in command from the start. He played his shorts with ease and never appeared to be struggling with poor form all season. He took 32 balls to reach fifty and then hit his first three-figure score in T20Is for India with a six on the second ball of the 19th over. His first century after 32 fifty-plus scores came in 53 balls.
Virat became second highest run-scorer in T20Is
During his innings, Virat broke Martin Guptill’s New Zealand opening batter record and became the second highest run-scorer in T20Is. In addition, he joined Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Suresh Raina as the only Indian batters to score centuries in all three formats of the game.
Virat Kohli, who recently became the first Indian and only the second cricketer in history to play 100 matches across all three formats, finished the Asia Cup 2022 with 276 runs from five matches. Apart from his century on Thursday, he also scored two fifties in the tournament. Virat is also the only Asia Cup batter to score a century in the T20I format.
