Kohli smashed an unbeaten 122 in 61 balls.
India's campaign in the Asia Cup 2022 did not go down as well as planned as the defending champions bowed out of the tournament in the Super-4 stage having lost to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in back-to-back last-over defeats.
However, the top ranked T20I side in the world ended the tournament on a high after defeating Afghanistan by 101 runs in Dubai on Thursday (September 8). The massive victory came on the back of Virat Kohli's 122* and Bhuvneshwar Kumar's extraordinary spell of 5/4.
For Kohli, it was a day when he ended the wait of 1019 days for an international ton and it also happened to be his first in T20 internationals for India, and 71st overall. Coming back after a break, Kohli was seemingly refreshed as he registered scores of 35, 59, 60, 0 and 122* in the five games.
READ ALSO: Pakistan cricket fraternity congratulates Virat Kohli on scoring his long-awaited 71st ton
The former captain endured the most difficult patch of his illustrious career where he achieved almost everything as a batter in the space of a decade but then came the test, as he battled form across all formats and eventually put behind captaincy at the international level as well as in in IPL cricket.
Kohli recently admitted he learnt a lot through his struggles but also there were times lately when he felt he was unable to be as up for the games as before, hence he asked the board to be rested for the white-ball tours of West Indies and Zimbabwe.
Now that he is back in the runs and the weight of the 71st ton is also off his shoulders, his fans all over the world will hope they will get to witness the best of Virat Kohli once again in all three formats.
Reacting to the 71st hundred, Kohli's wife Anushka Sharma penned a touching post on Instagram, as she wrote, “Forever with you through any and everything” and shared three pictures of Kohli.
Kohli had dedicated his ton to Anushka and their daughter Vamika at the post-match presentation, where he told Star Sports, “You see me standing here like this right now because all the things that have been put in perspective have been done by one person, who stood by me through all these difficult times, that's Anushka and this hundred is specially dedicated to her and our little daughter Vamika as well”.