After a difficult two years in which he struggled with inconsistent form and raised doubts about his place inside the Indian batting lineup, India’s cricket mastermind Virat Kohli silenced his detractors with an incredible T20I century in opposition to Afghanistan during the 2022 Asia Cup, ending a long-standing drought.
The 2022 Indian Premier League season saw Kohli, struggling to get back into his swing. He averaged 22.73 while scoring 341 runs in 16 games. But even in the difficult times, Kohli’s unwavering work ethic was evident.
Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan spinner saw firsthand Kohli’s relentless dedication. The spinner was taken aback to witness Kohli spending long hours inside the nets polishing his abilities. He was getting ready for their encounter against the RCB.
Rashid Khan said (as quoted by One Cricket), “During the IPL, we had a match the next day against RCB. In the nets, I was just counting the time Virat was out there. To be honest, he batted for two and half hours. Main aisa hairan hua (I was so shocked). Our nets were finished and still, he was there batting. The next day, he scored around 70 against us. His mindset is very positive.”
“People want him to score a hundred” : Rashid Khan
He noted that although Kohli’s form had declined, his perfect timing in practise didn’t indicate that he was a batter struggling with bad form. Rashid praised Kohli’s fortitude, particularly in Test cricket, when he often overcame difficult circumstances and produced outstanding performances.
The Afghanistan all-rounder said, “When he bats, he plays such wonderful shots that to me, he doesn’t appear to be out-of-form at all). The expectations are much more. People want him to score a hundred every second game. If you look at his Test match innings, he has got through the tough time, batted well, then somehow he has gotten out for 50 or 60 or 70. If there was any other normal batter then everyone would have said that he is in form but with Virat the expectations are such that they only want centuries.”
