As the final Super 4 game of the 2022 Asia Cup drew to a close, India won by a mammoth 101 runs over Afghanistan.
However, the fact remains that this was only a dead rubber, in spite of the fact that former captain and talismanic batter Virat Kohli finally broke his drought of international centuries with an astonishing 120 off 61 balls. Pakistan’s thrilling victory over Afghanistan confirmed India’s exit from the tournament.
Before the super 4 stage, India had dominated the group stages before falling to Pakistan and Sri Lanka. With these defeats, Pakistan’s fate was completely out of their hands, as it would need to lose both of its remaining games in order to reach the final.
Virat Kohli scored his 71st international century against Afghanistan, his first in more than 1000 days. Bhuvneshwar Kumar took five wickets for just four runs in the match, an exceptional performance by a pacer. However, Inzamam said that this individual brilliance came too late compared to India’s all-round dominance.
It came a little too late (Meherbaan badi der ki aate aate). India showed the form and performance everyone expected from them against Afghanistan. The aggression shown by KL Rahul and Virat Kohli in their game was evident,” Inzamam said on his YouTube channel.
Inzamam added that it wasn’t late as it didn’t help their cause regarding their progress in the tournament.
As part of his discussion, Inzamam also mentioned Indian star Kohli, who scored his maiden T20I century and highest individual score on Thursday when he smashed 122 runs against Afghanistan. According to the former cricketer, Kohli’s innings and the team’s performance meant a lot to India.
Kohli’s hundred is definitely good news for India. His form is crucial to India’s success going forward. Kohli will be relieved and much more relaxed now that he has achieved a hundred after more than thousand days.
