After 1020 days,Virat Kohli finally reached the triple-figure mark, and he did so on a stage, in a format he was least expected to achieve. Kohli slammed an unbeaten 122 against Afghanistan, becoming only the fourth Indian player, after Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul, to register a century in T20I. 

Kohli simply wheezed through the innings, playing his trademark drives, flicks, and pulls without any turbulence. The Afghan bowlers had no answer, and it felt like they are just doing enough to land the ball, rather than making efforts to get rid of him. While this has a lot to do with the fatigue of turning up a day after they suffered an agonizing defeat, Kohli’s marvelous stroke-making, which has become a rarity these days, too played a part.

He was picking the gaps on his whims, tearing apart both spinners and pacers alike with surgical precision. Kohli reached the landmark moment in the 19th over, with a well-executed pull over the deep mid-wicket, and added another 22 runs in a blink of an eye to take India to a daunting total. 

Kohli also surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s record of reaching 71 centuries in the least number of innings. Even though India has been knocked out of this competition, the innings Kohli played will be the biggest positive for the side.

The innings also ended the existence of Twitter accounts created with the sole aim of tracking the number of days since Kohli last scored a century. There were tributes from all over the cricketing world. AB de Villiers, the RCB colleague and a good friend of Kohli, wrote, “When I spoke to him yesterday I knew something was brewing Well played my friend”.

Indian footballer Sunil Chhetri wrote, “You can delay class all you want to, don’t even think of denying it. That ton? Worth its weight in gold. That smile? Priceless. Shine on, champ.”

Some fans compared Kohli’s century to Roger Federer’s 18th grand slam, while others drew a comparison to Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th century. Kohli credited his wife Anushka Sharma for putting things into perspective when he was going through the worst phase of his career. 

“She was the one putting things in perspective for me, kept giving me the right kind of guidance, vision moving forward and I came back into the system as a relaxed person,” said Kohli in the post-match conference.

Lead Image: BCCI