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The India-Pakistan's high-octane slugfest on Sunday (August 28) in the ongoing Asia Cup marked Virat Kohli's 100th appearance in the T20Is. With this Kohli has scripted history as he became the first Indian player to complete a century of International matches in all three formats and second overall after New Zealand's legendary batter Ross Taylor.
Only 13 players have achieved this feat of playing 100 or more T20Is as of now. But Ross and Kohli are the only players in the history of International cricket to have completed 100 matches across formats. The 33-year-old high-profile batter made his T20I debut for India against Zimbabwe on June 12, 2010 and has scored a total of 3,308 runs at an average of 50.12 till date.
Earlier, South Africa's legendary cricketer AB de Villiers put out a heartfelt message for the batting juggernaut Kohli ahead of his 100th T20 International match.
De Villiers and Kohli share a great camaraderie between them as the duo played together at at Royal Challengers Bangalore for 11 years and were involved in many memorable matches.
"I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate my very good friend Virat Kohli on becoming the first Indian cricket player to play 100 matches across all three formats," de Villiers said in a video posted by Star Sports on twitter.
"What an amazing achievement, Virat. We're all very proud of you and all the very best in your 100th T20 international game. We will be watching you."
Meanwhile, India kicked off their Asia Cup 202's campaign against Pakistan. Both the sides are playing for the first time since last T20 World Cup where Babar Azam-led side hammered India by 10 wickets.
In their first match in the Asia Cup 2022, Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first. However, he dropped Rishabh Pant and included Dinesh Karthik in the playing XI. Two Asia Cup freshers Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan were also included in the final XI.
Pakistan (Playing XI): Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shahnawaz Dahani.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh.
