Asia Cup 2022: India VS Afghanistan Super 4 - Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar steered India to a 101-run victory

India secured their second biggest T20I win, defeating Afghanistan by 101 runs. After being involved in a physical and mentally draining encounter against Pakistan yesterday, Afghanistan failed to turn up in full enthusiasm to finish the tournament on a high note.

This was the match every cricket fan was waiting for. The world witnessed Virat Kohli's 71st century today, and that too in a T20 format. 

"I was a bit shocked as this was the format I least expected for a century to come anytime soon. It is all God's blessing", said Virat Kohli.

For the fourth time, a side has had a centurion and five-wicket haul in the same T20I. 

Invited to bat first, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, after taking 2-3 overs to settle, gave a flying start to the team as they stitched 119-run on the opening stand. KL Rahul departed on 62 runs, whereas Virat Kohli smashed his much-awaited 71st International ton to remain unbeaten at 122 of 61.

"Very blessed, very grateful right now. The last two and half years have taught me a lot," said Virat Kohli. He further added, "When I came here, when I started playing in the nets, I felt like my old rhythm was coming back, and it was about getting those performances in the middle." 

With today's knock, he completed 100 sixes in T20Is and cliched the highest individual T20I score by any Indian batsman.

After seeing a magnificent knock of Virat Kohli while defending a mammoth target of 212, fans saw a magical power play spell of Bhuvneshwar Kumar as he returned with the figure of 4-1-4-5. Ibrahim Zadran stood firm to remain undefeated at 64 off 59, but the complete batting order stumbled to the bowling attack. 

"It was really tough to play Pakistan the other night, tight game and straight away next game is against India, totally tough. We weren't mentally prepared for that game. We tried our best to prepare but the boys were not ready mentally.", Mohammad Nabi said after losing the match.

In this Asia Cup, fans witnessed many things. From Sri Lanka beating India and getting into the finals to the last ball thrill between Pakistan and Afghanistan. But one thing history will remember about this Asia Cup 2022 will be the return of King Kohli to smash his 71st century.

"I have absolute no shame in admitting that God is blessing us all with everything in our destiny, we just have to work hard. So I went back to the drawing board, came back fresh and excited." - Virat Kohli.

Tomorrow the Asia Cup will see a preview for the finals as Sri Lanka and Pakistan will clash in the tournament's penultimate match before the finals. India will, however, host Australia for the T20I series commencing on 20th September 2022. 

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