Dubai: Virat Kohli hit a ton as India down Afghanistan in their final Asia Cup 2022 game on Thursday at Dubai International Stadium. Both team, who were already eliminated from the tournament, was playing their last game of the tournament. Kohli’s maiden T20I century added life to the dead rubber, which Afghanistan lost by 101 runs.

This was his first international century since November 2019 as he guided India to a massive 212-run total on a loss of just two wickets. The star batsman stood unbeaten on 122 off 61 deliveries with 12 fours and two sixes in Dubai after India were put in to bat. In the replay, Bhuvneshwar Kumar proved too good with the ball as he ended up with his maiden five-wicket haul and conceded just four runs from his four-over spell.

For Afghanistan, Ibrahim Zadran played a lone hand in the run-chase as Afghanistan reach 111-8 in their 20 overs. The right-hander remained unbeaten on 64 off 59 balls. A part from him, Mujeeb Ur Rahman contributed with 18 runs. The Afghans suffered a heartbreaking loss to Pakistan on Wednesday as they lost by one wicket to crash out of the tournament along with heavyweights India. Afghanistan were unchanged, with Nabi saying they struggled to sleep between the back-to-back games. Meanwhile, KL Rahul will stand in as captain with regular skipper Rohit Sharma rested. Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel and Deepak Chahar, who was included in the team in place of fast bowler Avesh Khan, are the three changes to the XI. 

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 09 2022

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