India had poor outings in the 2022 Asia Cup tournament with a third-position finish. The champions started the tournament with a crucial group stage win over arch-rivals Pakistan but their performance in the Super-Four round was below average. India lost against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, who reached the finals of the tournament, but ended their campaign with a big win against Afghanistan.
There were a few positive takes for team India, who will be looking for an immediate comeback with T20 World Cup just around the corner. The biggest positive for the Men in Blue was Virat Kohli's brilliant form throughout the tournament. The former skipper started with a crucial 35-run knock against Pakistan in the group stage fixture and ended the campaign with an unbeaten 122 runs off 61 balls knock against Afghanistan.
The 33-year-old smashed two big fifties while playing in the number three position, against Hong Kong and Pakistan (in the Super-Four round) to signal his return to form. But his best innings came against Afghanistan in India's last match of the tournament. He opened the innings with KL Rahul with captain Rohit Sharma missing out. Kohli went on to score his first-ever hundred in T20I cricket and his first international century after a big gap of 1020 days.
The way he played, it was a vintage Virat Kohli knock: Wasim Jaffer
Kohli smashed unbeaten 122 runs off just 61 balls with the help of 12 fours and six sixes. His strike rate of 200 was a big statement as many questioned his slow approach in the recent T20I games. The experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar took five for four in the same match to end the tournament with 11 wickets in just five matches.
But for the fans, Kohli's knock clearly overshadowed Bhuvneshwar's magical spell because it came after almost three years. The former Indian batter Wasim Jaffer also stated that Kohli's century was the best memory for him in this Asia Cup tournament while speaking on the BatBricks7 presents Run Ki Runneeti show on CricTracker on Sunday.
"I think Virat Kohli's hundred is my favorite memory from this tournament. It came after almost three years as everyone in the world was talking about it. And we witnessed the vintage Kohli, the way he played, and that has to be a highlight of the tournament for me," said Wasim Jaffer before Pakistan-Sri Lanka final clash.
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