Home Cricket Asia Cup 2022 Kohli scores century after 1020 days; Bhuvi picks up fifer

Kohli scores century after 1020 days; Bhuvi picks up fifer

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Kohli scores century after 1020 days; Bhuvi picks up fifer

India signed out of the Asia Cup 2022 with a massive 101-run win over Afghanistan in their final Super Four match at the Dubai International Stadium following a scintillating debut T20I century by Virat Kohli and career best figures in T20Is for Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Kohli opened the batting as Rohit Sharma rested and ended his century drought in international cricket for 1020 days with a career-best 122 off just 61 balls, laced with 12 fours and six magnificent sixes.

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India got off to a blistering start with an opening stand of 119 off 76 balls, with stand-in skipper KL Rahul scoring 65 of those runs. Kohli accelerated from 59 off 40 balls to hammering his next 63 runs off just 21 balls to bring up his 71st international century and silence critics. India ended their innings with a mammoth 212/2 after 20 overs.

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Just as it looked like Kohli had stolen the show, pacer Bhuvneshwar’s swinging spell of 5/4 completely dismantled Afghanistan’s top order, as they were eventually restricted to 111/8 in 20 overs, a much higher score than expected considering their situation early on in the innings.

Afghanistan dropped several catches, including that of Kohli’s when he was on 28, as they appeared fatigued considering they had lost to Pakistan just one day earlier.
Kohli brought up his maiden T20I century in 53 balls with a six pulled high over deep mid-wicket. Farooqui came in for a beating in the final over as Kohli hit him for sixes over long-off and deep mid-wicket before piercing the cover for a four to smash 18 runs off the final over.

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Kohli is now level with former Australia captain Ricky Ponting with 71 international centuries, with the two led by batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, who has 100.

With the ball, Bhuvneshwar was lethal from the very first over, where he picked up two wickets.

Ibrahim Zadran, with an unbeaten 64 off 59 balls was the only Afghanistan batter to put up any sort of resilience and also ensure his side weren’t bowled out inside 20 overs as the Afghans ended on 111/8.

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