Virat Kohli finally reached his much-awaited 71st century on September 8th. The century scored against Afghanistan in Asia Cup ended the drought of almost 3 years of waiting. With the unbeaten 122 off 61 innings, Kohli registered his maiden T20I century. The milestone made millions celebrate Kohli for the legendary player he is. The 71st century officially announced Kohli’s return to form after a low phase that stretched over for over 1000 days for him.
Twitter went berserk as soon as Kohli hit the century ensuring six on Thursday in Dubai. Fans, former players, and his contemporaries all took to the internet to wish Kohli for finally achieving the feat. In fact, Twitter fumbled for a bit due to the volume of content that suddenly hit the platform. However, Gautam Gambhir, former cricketer has put forth a twisted opinion over the much-celebrated ton.
Gautam Gambhir presents his stance on Virat Kohli’s 71st ton
Most International Centuries Among
Active Player's .Virat Kohli – 71
Joe root – 44
David warner – 43
Rohit sharma – 41
Steve smith – 39#ViratKohli𓃵 pic.twitter.com/DI7z5BJsWO— Mufaddal Vohra (@133_AT_Hobart) September 10, 2022
Gambhir expressed his views stating that none other than Virat Kohli would’ve been given a chance to wait this long. He named players like Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul and even Rohit Sharma on the list of cricketers that would’ve been rested had they went through such a dry spell for so long. However, he admitted that Kohli has earned that chance over the years through his performance.
“Three years is a very long time. It’s not three months. And I’m not trying to be critical of him but he has earned that just because he has got loads of runs in the past. But I don’t think so that any of the young batters would have survived in international cricket had they not got a hundred in three years,” Gambhir said.
“Eventually it had to happen and it happened at the right time as well. You are just approaching the T20 World Cup and he’s got a hundred so he has got the monkey off his back. But let’s be fair and absolutely honest, I don’t think anyone in the dressing room would have survived three years without a hundred. People like Ashwin, Rahane, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have been dropped. I haven’t known one guy who hasn’t been dropped after not having scored a hundred in three years. It is only Virat Kohli and he has earned that.”
