Former India captain Virat Kohli on Thursday ended his century drought with a magnificent and unbeaten 122 against Afghanistan in India's Super 4 tie in Asia Cup 2022. It was Kohli's first international century in 1021 days and maiden in the T20I format which played a crucial role in India's 101-run win in Dubai. However, former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir, in his rather “honest” take on the much-awaited ton, revealed that Kohli was the only one who survived this long drought and that none would have even managed to get an opportunity this long, no format how big a name they are in the sport.
_(1)_1662714968799_1662714975112_1662714975112.jpg)
On November 23 of 2019, Kohli had scored his 70th international ton, en route to his match-winning 136 against Bangladesh in Kolkata. In 83 innings since the, across formats, Kohli has struggled to score yet another three-figure mark. And hopes of yet another hundred slowly began to fade away this year with Kohli having a dip in form and showing signs of struggles.
However, Kohli made a superb return to the format scoring couple of fifties in the Asia Cup before he reached his 71st international century, in the format he least expected. But Gambhir, in his conversation with Star Sports, admitted that because of what Kohli achieved in the past, he managed to get a backing from the team management and the selectors in these three years, which no other cricketer would have gotten. Gambhir even named a few - R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul - saying that they have all been dropped owing to poor run of form or lack of centuries.
“Three years is a very long time. It's not three months. And I'm not trying to be critical of him but he has earned that just because he has got loads of runs in the past. But I don't think so that any of the young batters would have survived in international cricket had they not got a hundred in three years,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Three years is a very long time. It's not three months. And I'm not trying to be critical of him but he has earned that just because he has got loads of runs in the past. But I don't think so that any of the young batters would have survived in international cricket had they not got a hundred in three years,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Eventually it had to happen and it happened at the right time as well. You are just approaching the T20 World Cup and he's got a hundred so he has got the monkey off his back. But let's be fair and absolutely honest, I don't think any one in the dressing room would have survived three years without a hundred. People like Ashwin, Rahane, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have been dropped. I haven't know one guy who hasn't been dropped after not having scored a hundred in three years. It is only Virat Kohli and he has earned that.”
Kohli is likely to next feature in the home series against Australia and South Africa before they take off for Down Under for the T20 World Cup.