Virat Kohli will be five kilos less: Ravi Shastri lauds India batter after his 71st international century
Virat Kohli scored his 71st international century on Thursday.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri lauded Virat Kohli and said the batting maestro will be feeling much lighter after bringing an end to his long-standing century drought against Afghanistan in Asia Cup 2022 on Thursday. Kohli brought an end to a wait of 1020 days to notch up his 71st century in international cricket.
It was brilliant knock from the former India captain, who had headed into the tournament amid massive criticism over his lean patch. Kohli seemed to have found his lost mojo in the tournament as he scored runs consistently before shattering his century drought against Afghanistan on Thursday.
It was a brilliant knock of 122 runs off 61 balls for Kohli as he slammed his maiden hundred in T20Is and set up a comfortable 101-run win for India. Even though, Kohli never spoke about his century drought bothering him, Shastri said the India batter would be feeling five kilos lighter as the monkey is off his back now.
"You mentioned 1020 days, I can say 700 days I was in that dressing room when that happened. It's a long time. The monkey is off his back now. When you had astounding success like he has, when 70 hundreds 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," Shastri said on Star Sports.
"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 is back. It took a long time coming," he added.
Kohli seems to have now rediscovered his form and will be keen to continue his purple patch in India's upcoming assignments ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia later this year. His return to form is crucial for India's chances in the tournament as Kohli is expected to play a big role for India in the World Cup Down Under.
Kohli has now joined the legendary Ricky Ponting on the second spot in the list of batters with most centuries in international cricket. He is only behind batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, who remains the only man to have slammed 100 centuries in international cricket.