ASIA CUP 2022: DOES VIRAT KOHLI HAS MADE HIS COMEBACK?

 

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Kohli is set to return in blue on August 28 in what will be his 100th T20I for India. At the same time, he will also become the first player in Indian cricket history to play a hundred matches across all three formats of the game

The spotlight will be on Virat Kohli when India takes the field against Pakistan in the much-anticipated clash at the Asia Cup on Sunday in Dubai. The 33-year-old will be getting back to the groove following a month-long break from the game. He last featured in the England ODIs and T20Is which India won with an identical scoreline of 2-1. Since then, he has been away from the field, missing out on the tours of the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Returning to competitive cricket after over a month’s break, Virat Kohli contributed 35 runs before being dismissed by Mohammad Nawaz in the 10^th over as India took on arch-rivals in an asia Cup 2022 group match in Dubai on Sunday.

Kohli, who had last played in a T20I series against England in July, came in at number three as early as in the first over after KL Rahul was dismissed for a golden duck.

This was Kohli’s 100th T20I for India.

The former India skipper got off to a nervy start, as Kohli was dropped by a diving Fakhar Zaman at second slip in the fourth ball of the first over bowled by Naseem Shah.

However, Kohli went onto build a 49-run stand for the second wicket with Rohit Sharma before the India skipper departed for 12. Kohli showed glimpses of gradually getting back to his old self with some confident strokeplays, as he brought up three fours and a six in his 34-ball knock. However, Kohli’s innings came to an end early in the 10^th over, when he came charging down, but miscued a shot to find Iftikhar Ahmed taking a catch at long-off from Mohammad Nawaz’s ball.

This was Kohli’s first 20-plus score in white-ball cricket after four limited-overs innings. Prior to this, Kohli had endured score of 1, 11, 16 and 17 in two T20Is and ODIs respectively against England earlier in the summer.

Kohli’s last T20I fifty had come against West Indies in Kolkata in February this year.

The teams

India: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh

Pakistan: Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wk) Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shahnawaz Dahani

Brief Scores:

Pakistan: 147 all out in 19.5 overs (Mohammed Rizwan 43, Hardik Pandya 3/25, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4/26).

India 148 in 19.4 overs (Hardik Pandya 33 no off 17 balls, Ravindra Jadeja 35 off 29 balls