India’s talisman is back in form as Virat Kohli smashed his second half-century in the ongoing Asia Cup 2022. Kohli proved yet again that he shines under pressure, smashing a stroke-filled 44-ball 60 against his favourite opposition, Pakistan in the Super 4 match at the Dubai International Stadium. Kohli scripted two excellent records on Sunday with his half-century and became the second-highest run scorer in the continental tournament.
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With his brilliant knock against Pakistan, Kohli surpassed India skipper Rohit Sharma as the batter with the most fifty-plus scores in T20I cricket. He has 32 fifties in 94 innings for India, one more than Rohit, who has represented India in a record 135 matches in the shortest format of the game.
The fighting knock was Kohli’s fourth fifty-plus score against Pakistan in T20Is. He has scored the most number of fifties against Pakistan in T20Is and is at the pinnacle of a list that includes England veteran Kevin Pietersen, renowned New Zealand batters Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson, and Australia’s white-ball captain Aaron Finch.
His blistering innings also propelled him above current India head coach Rahul Dravid for scoring fifty-plus runs for India in international cricket. The modern great has 194 such scores for India, 70 of which are centuries, trailing only the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who has 264 fifty-plus innings in international cricket.
As things stand, Kohli is the second highest run-getter in the Asia Cup, bagging 154 runs at an impressive average of 77 and a strike rate of 126.22. Pakistan’s opener Mohammed Rizwan is leading the charts with 192 runs in the tournament.
Though Kohli starred in the enthralling encounter of the Super 4 fixture, India were thumped by Pakistan who clinched a last-ball victory. India’s ultra-aggressive batting tactic somewhat misfired as they kept losing wickets, restricting them to a score of 181/7 on a belter of a wicket.
Rizwan and Mohammed Nawaz then led the chase for Pakistan and almost saw them home but had to return to the pavilion in the final stages of the match. However, Pakistan’s finch hitters Asif Ali and Khushdil Shah combined to take the men in green over the line with just one ball to spare of the stipulated 20 overs.
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