India is out of Asia Cup 2022 but fans got a full-meal treat in its last game held tonight. Finally, Virat Kohli scored his much-awaited 71st century, ending a two-and-a-half year drought. On the bowling front, Bhuvneshwar Kumar recorded his career-best T20I figures. As a result, India has beaten Afghanistan by 101 runs in a dead rubber.
India lost the toss and was asked to bat first. Captain Rohit Sharma was rested and Virat Kohli (122* off 61 balls) opened the innings with KL Rahul (62). Both gave a sensational start and made an opening stand of 119 runs. In the process, both of them scored their respective half-centuries. After KL got out, Surya Kumar Yadav went back to the pavilion in no time. Later, Virat got good support from Rishab Pant (20*).
Virat looked confident and was in a great touch tonight. He unleashed his beast mode in the death overs and smacked Afghan bowlers all over the park. Soon, he scored his 71st international century, which also happens to be his maiden T20I century. His score of 122 runs is the highest individual score for any Indian batter in T20Is. With the help of his effort, India made 212/2 in 20 overs.
Afghanistan was destroyed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar during this massive chase. It lost 5 wickets inside the powerplay and four of them were taken by Bhuvi. In the seventh over, Bhuvi claimed his 5th wicket and ended his spell with career-best figures (4-1-4-5). At that point, Afghanistan’s score was 21/6. Later, Ibrahim Zadran (64*), Rashid Khan (15) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (18) put on a fight but the target was too high for them. Finally, it ended up with a score of 111/8 in 20 overs. This massive win cheered up India and it now moves on to the bilateral T20I series against Australia which starts on September 20.
