"My 60s Became Failures...": Virat Kohli After Ending Century Drought In Asia Cup
Asia Cup 2022: Virat Kohli ended a long wait for a century, but said that he was shocked that people were labelling even half-centuries "failures" in that period.
Star India batter Virat Kohli on Thursday ended a long wait before finally scoring his first century in nearly three years. Kohli, who last scored a century back in November 2019, scored an unbeaten 122 off 61 balls in the Asia Cup Super 4 clash in Dubai. While India might've failed to reach the final of the Asia Cup, Kohli's return to form has been the biggest positive, especially with the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in Australia next month.
Prior to the Asia Cup, several current and former players had questioned Kohli's place in the team at the showpiece event.
However, with 296 runs in five matches, Kohli has surely silenced his critics.
During the post-match presentation, Kohli, who won the man of the match for his blistering knock, said he was "shocked" how his knocks of 50s and 60s were labelled as "failures" during the time he was not scoring tons.
"What actually surprised me was my 60s became failures, which was very shocking for me. I was batting pretty well and contributing, but it didn't seem to be good enough," Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
"But as I said, God has blessed me with a lot of good times in the past, and that's why I'm in this position where these things can be spoken about. I have absolutely no shame in admitting that God is blessing us all with everything in our destiny, we just have to work hard," said Kohli.
Kohli added that starting afresh after taking a break from the sport helped him rediscover his lost mojo.
"I went back to the drawing board, came back fresh, came back excited. The team management have also had great communication with me through these times, they've kept my perspective right," the former skipper said.
"When I came back there was not much information coming my way, they just said 'you bat and enjoy yourself'. So it was just a matter of getting back into the space of enjoyment."
"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 times I had. It was the same initial movement, same approach towards the ball and it was just what was going on inside my head I wasn't able to explain it to anyone," Kohli said about finding back his mojo.
"At the end of the day you know as an individual where you stand, and what you have to do for your journey, and people will have their opinions. But they cannot feel what you're feeling. I have felt these last few months in a very different way, which is a very special time in my life. I'm very grateful for that time, my perspective had to change for me to move forward in cricket," he added.
India Cricket Team
Afghanistan
Virat Kohli