South Africa's legendary cricketer AB de Villiers put out a heartfelt message for the batting juggernaut Virat Kohli ahead of his 100th T20 International match. With this Kohli will become the first cricketer from India to complete a century of matches in all three formats of the game.
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."
Kohli has represented India in 102 Tests and 262 ODIs so far, and the team's Asia Cup opener against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday will be his 100th T20 International.
All eyes will be glued on the 33-year-old high-profile batter when India take on arch-nemesis Pakistan in the high-voltage Asia Cup slugfest which will be played on Sunday (August 28).
Although, the 33-year-old is going through a lean patch with the willow as he hit his last International century back in 2019, but the milestones that he has achieved so far is a testimony of greatness of India's most decorated player.
Since his last International century in November 2019, Kohli has played a total of 27 T20Is since his final international ton, he has scored 858 runs in this format at an average of 42.90. His best score in this format is 94*. He has hit eight half-centuries in this format since his last ton.
The high-profile batter, who made his International debut in 2008, has represented Team India in 99 T20I games across which he has scored 3,308 runs at an average of 50.12. His best individual score for India in this format is 94 and he has scored 30 half-centuries in this format.
India's squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
Pakistan's squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir, Mohammed Hasnain, Hasan Ali.
