Former India head coach Ravi Shastri was mighty impressed by Virat Kohli's performance against Afghanistan which saw the former India skipper score his first T20I hundred in the 2022 Asia Cup on Thursday.
According to Shastri, the performance was like a monkey off the batter's back.
Kohli hit an unbeaten 122 runs off just 61 balls, his first international century since 2019. The ton from the star batter set India up to a 101-run win over Afghanistan as they wrapped up their Asia Cup campaign on a high.
Speaking to Star Sports, as quoted by NDTV, Shastri said that he saw the real Kohli during the final 40 runs of his innings. The former player also said that the century drought would have been eating him up from the inside."You mentioned 1020 days, I can say 700 days I was in that dressing room when that happened. It's been a long time. The monkey is off his back now. When you had astounding success like he has when 70 hundred come like this, then you go through a patch of one, two years, two-and-half years, two-and-three quarter years, and then everyday people start reminding - 'It's been that long'.
He is human. It would have been eating him up. He would be getting up every morning, whether thinking of it or not, subconsciously being reminded," said Shastri.
The former India coach also said that the pressure of scoring a hundred is finally off for Kohli and he will be feeling lighter in his head. Shastri also said that he saw the real Kohli during the last 40 runs of his innings against Afghanistan.
"Today, I think he will be five kilos less. Don't ask me where the weight has gone from, five kilos less at least from the head. You could see from the last 40 runs of his innings. It was Virat Kohli. His trade mark shots, the confidence, the poise, the utter disdain for bowling are back. It took a long time coming," said Shastri.
