Virat Kohli looked to have found his mojo back in India's Asia Cup 2022's clash against Hong Kong as he ended up scoring 59 off 44 balls on Wednesday (August 31).
Kohli was going through a patchy form for a long time as he last hit a century three years back. But the ongoing Asia Cup seems to have brought Kohli's form back as he first struck a sedate 35 against arch-rivals Pakistan and then followed it up with an impressive 59 against Hong Kong.
With a stunning average of 50.77, Virat has scored 3,402 runs in 101 T20Is, which is the highest for any batter in the shortest format of the game. He has belted 31 half-centuries with a highest score of 94 and strike rate of 137.12.
Meanwhile, India's former skipper Gautam Gambhir thinks Virat's knock against Hong Kong should not be a parameter to gauge his return of form.
"Probably this is not the right opposition to judge Virat Kohli or any batter. But the runs were important. You have to go out in the middle and put an effort to score runs, whoever the opposition might be," said Gambhir during a discussion on Star Sports.
"If you want to judge whether he was seen in that rhythm or will come in that rhythm, I hope he will be seen in better rhythm in upcoming matches, because it was not that sort of quality bowling. But it's a 60-run knock. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul also had opportunities but Virat Kohli scored 60 runs, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma could not do that. You will get confidence only by the hard work you put in the middle. Virat Kohli needed an innings like this because he is coming back after a gap. Because it is never easy for a player. In the first match, there was help for the fast bowlers from the pitch, opposition was tough, it was a better bowling line-up, but in the matches that will come ahead, whether it is Afghanistan or Pakistan, Virat Kohli will look in better rhythm now," he further added.
The 33-year-old is now tied with Rohit Sharma, who also has 31 half-centuries in 126 innings from 134 matches along with four centuries. Babar Azam, David Warner, Martin Guptill, and Paul Stirling are the only players with more than 20 scores of fifty or more in T20Is. No other batter has more than 30 such scores.
