Virat Kohli: 'What surprised me was my 60s became failures... doesn't seem to be enough'

Dubai: Virat Kohli ended his 1021 days of drought without a century on Thursday when he slammed a match-winning 122 against Afghanistan during an Asia Cup 2022 match in Dubai on Thursday. This was Kohli’s 71st international century and also his maiden T20 hundred.

Speaking candidly after the much-awaited century, the 33-year-old batter said he was surprised to see the criticism coming his way despite batting well and scoring 60-odd runs.

“Today was the build of the last few games, I batted out of my skin to be honest and I surprised myself. What surprised me was my 60s became failures; quite shocking for me, batting pretty well and contributing but doesn’t seem to be enough,” said Kohli after the win.

The former India skipper recently took a month off from the game and that helped him immensely. He knew that were was nothing wrong in his game technically.

“I have had many suggestions, lot of advice has come my way; people were telling me I was doing this wrong, that wrong, I picked out all the videos from the best time I had; same initial movement, same approach towards the ball and it was just what was happening inside my head I wasn’t able to explain it to anyone.

“At the end of the day you know as an individual where you stand, people will have their opinions but they cannot feel what you are feeling.”

Kohli reached the elusive three-figure mark after almost three years, albeit in a format “he least expected to”.

His 71st hundred also puts him alongside the great Ricky Ponting in the list of most centuries. Sachin Tendulkar is still way ahead with 100 international tons.

“Last two and a half years have taught me a lot. I am going to turn 34 in a month. So those angry celebrations are a thing of the past,” said Kohli at the innings break.

“Actually I was shocked. This is the last format I thought. It was an accumulation of a lot of things. The team has been open and helpful.”

(With inputs from PTI)

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