During the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, Virat Kohli broke a 1205-day drought without a Test century when he hit a superb 186 in the drawn final match of the series.
Overall, Kohli now has 75 international centuries to his name and only the legendary Sachin Tendulkar is ahead of him with 100 international hundreds.
After the end of the India-Australia Test series, Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar tipped Kohli to surpass Tendulkar's monumental number of tons.
Akhtar has now come up with another massive statement about Virat Kohli, advising the latter to quit T20Is and prioritise playing two of the oldest formats in international cricket.
“As a cricketer, if you ask me, I feel he should stick with only Test and ODI formats. T20I unki energy bahot nikaal deta hai (T20I format drains a lot of his energy). He is a very excited kind of character. He wants to be out there, he wants to look good. He wants to have a good time in T20Is. He likes it. But at times, he needs to save his body. How old is he right now? 34 right? Easily he can play for about 6 to 8 years. If he plays 30-50 more Test matches, I'm sure it won't be difficult for him to score 25 centuries in those Test matches,” Akhtar told Sports Tak.
“However, it will still be a daunting task for him in terms of fitness and mental health. Luckily, he is a strong guy, he is a Punjabi guy. It's great that he is in a good frame of mind. He is concentrating and having a good time with his cricket. So he should remain focused and cross the 100-century barrier. And India will reserve high praise for him. And all these trash talks about Babar Azam and Virat Kohli - these are great players. Who is bigger than Kohli or Babar in Asia? No one. So all these loose talks are done just to grab attention,” he added.
After regaining his form in the Asia Cup last year, Kohli has started dominating bowling attacks all over again. He had a great time in the 2022 T20 World Cup Down Under, emerging as the top run-getter with 296 runs at a staggering average of 98.66 and at a decent strike rate of 136.40, including a memorable 53-ball 82* against Pakistan in India's opening fixture.
Kohli then extended his brilliant form to ODIs as he smashed a century on the tour of Bangladesh last December and a couple more hundreds in the home series against Sri Lanka earlier this year.
In total, Virat Kohli has represented India in 108 Tests, 273 ODIs and 115 T20Is so far, amassing over 25000 runs across formats.
