India batter Virat Kohli has shown promising signs in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 after registering scores of 35 and 59* against Pakistan and Hong Kong. Kohli has not registered a century for over 1,000 days and he last scored a ton in November 2019. Ahead of the Super 4s match, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar said that it looks impossible that Virat will end up breaking the record of Sachin Tendulkar for most centuries in international cricket. However, he also said that Virat can do it if he puts his mind to it.
“You (Kohli) can become the greatest player forever. You have to convince yourself that you are the greatest ever. This is going to be the hardest 30 centuries -- if he scores. When he goes to the longet formats, he will get time to settle. Here, he is trying but the time is less, you have to maintain a good strike-rate, you have to ensure that the team wins," Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.
"He is positive, he is aggressive.. he is a great player, but I really want him to score a 100 centuries and break Sachin Tendulkar's record. It looks impossible right now, but this man can do it," he added.
The former Pakistan pacer also suggested that Virat needs to look at his T20I career after the World Cup in Australia.
“Virat Kohli hasn't been middling the ball really well. Both innings were quite patchy. He scored 59, I wish him best. My advice to Kohli is to just wait till the T20 World Cup, if this format suits your or doesn't suit you. You have to score 30 more tons," Akhtar said.
Kohli had revealed recently that he had tried to fake his intensity, before taking a break and skipping India's tours of the West Indies and Zimbabwe.