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Former India captain and maverick batter Virat Kohli on September 8 (Thursday) finally broke the jinx and smashed his 71st international century as India trounced Afghanistan by 101 runs in a dead rubber Asia Cup contest. This was also the 33-year-old's maiden hundred in T20Is as Afghanistan bowlers suffered from the wrath of Kohli's willow. During his imperious knock, Kohli scored an unbeaten 122 runs in just 61 balls with the help of 12 fours and six sixes and equalled Ricky Ponting's tally of international hundreds (71). He is now only behind Sachin Tendulkar on the all-time list.
On the back of Kohli's wonderous knock, India posted a mammoth total of 212/2 in 20 overs. Kohli, who opened the innings with captain KL Rahul in the absence of Rohit Sharma, registered an entertaining first-wicket alliance of 119 runs in 76 balls with his skipper. Kohli started toying with the field and bowlers towards the end of the innings, enough indication that he was back to his best.
Making his debut as T20I captain, Rahul found some rhythm with the bat as he played a blazing innings of 62 runs off 41 balls with the help of six fours and two sixes. The knock from Rahul was his most confident one ever since he came back from injury.
The openers played brilliantly against the spinners, including Rashid Khan (0/33), an area they needed to address heading into the T20 World Cup. It was vintage Kohli on display as he stepped out to the spinners, pierced the field perfectly and even played a rare sweep shot.
That sweep shot came in the sixth over bowled by Mujeeb Ur Rehman. The next ball he came down the track to hit a straight six. The former India captain also got lucky on his way to a memorable hundred as he was dropped in the deep off Mohammad Nabi in the eighth over. With India at 87 for no loss in 10 overs and Kohli on song, the Men in Blue looked set for a massive total.
It was raining boundaries in the last five overs as Kohli reached the elusive three-figure mark with a crisp pull shot off pacer Fareed Ahmed. He took his helmet off and smiled before kissing his necklace as part of his celebration. He ended the innings in style by smashing two sixes and a four off Fazalhaq Farooqi (2/57) to push India past 200.
In reply to India's monumental score, Afghanistan batters surrendered against Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who bowled a sensational spell with the new ball. The right-arm medium pacer dismissed both Afghanistan openers - Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz - for a duck in the very first over of the second innings.
Bhuvneshwar didn't stop there. In his following over, he dismissed Karim Janat (two runs off four balls) and Najibullah Zadran (two-ball duck). The veteran pacer capped his spell with a maiden-wicket as he sent Azmatullah Omarzai (one run off six balls) back to the pavilion. Bhuvneshwar finished with stunning figures of 5/4 in four overs.
After Bhuvneshwar's heroics with the ball, it was only formality for Team India to close the game and they did so by restricting Afghanistan to 111/8 in 20 overs. Ibrahim Zadran scored an unbeaten 64 runs in 59 balls but his innings went down the drains.
Arshdeep Singh (1/7) Ravichandran Ashwin (1/27) and Deepak Hooda (1/3) chipped in with a wicket each.
