Former India captain Virat Kohli roared back to form after putting on a stunning display of stroke-making when he last batted in an international match in the recently-concluded Asia Cup 2022. The maverick batter rolled back the clock and played a vintage knock in India's last match of the campaign against Afghanistan to end his 1,019-day century drought. In what was an imperious knock from start to finish, Kohli smashed 122 not out in 61 balls with the help of 12 boundaries and six sixes.
The swashbuckling Indian batter finished the tournament as the second-leading run-scorer with 276 runs in five matches. Kohli's century also meant that he tied Ricky Ponting for the second-most international centuries (71) and is now 29 behind the mark of Sachin Tendulkar.
Former Australia captain Ponting recently chimed in on whether Kohli can overhaul Sachin's mark and this is what he had to say:
"Look, I'll never say never with Virat, because you know once he gets on a bit of a roll, you know how hungry he is and how keen for success he is. I'll never say never that's for sure. That's five or six Test hundreds a year, maybe for the next three or four years. If you throw a couple of one-day ones, maybe the odd T20 ones on top of it," Ponting said on an episode of The ICC Review.
Since his sparkling hundred, which came while opening batting, several fans and pundits have been debating on whether Kohli should continue to open in T20Is.
"The question we're going to keep asking is -- well I'm sure, the Indian selectors are asking the same question -- does that create more of a problem than we thought with Virat getting that 100 opening the batting? What are we going to do now going into the World Cup? "So there's a few other questions that are probably raised on the back of that magnificent 100 that he made. He was even on record saying that he was surprised himself that the first 100 back was actually in a (T20I) game. He thought that that'd be the last option he'd have to score his first hundred in a couple of years," the former Australian captain opined.
Team India captain Rohit Sharma recently affirmed that KL Rahul is the first-choice opener in T20Is but he also added that Kohli might also open in few matches.
