The penultimate match of Asia Cup 2022 Super 4 ended up in a drw and it was how we expected India to play throughout the tournament. India won the match by 101 runs and the day was made by Virat Kohli who finally hit his 71st century that we all wre waiting for and Bhuvneshwar Kumar clinched a fifer, we desperately wanted.

Afghanistan just failed to show up, and who can blame them? They played Pakistan yesterday, which was mentally and physically taxing, and today they had to play an Indian squad that wanted to win the tournament. Afghanistan never entered the match, with the exception of the first couple of overs when Rahul and Kohli took their time to bat.

The Indian openers put up a 100+ run stand to lay the groundwork for a large total, Kohli came into his own and scored his 71st international hundred, Bhuvi destroyed the top order with his crafty bowling, and he finished with his career-best T20I numbers. Ibrahim Zadran and the bottom order stayed to bat out the 20 overs, but the chase was finished the seventh over.

Mohammad Nabi the Losing captain said, “It was really tough to play Pakistan the other night, tight game and straightaway 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.”

KL Rahul Winning captain: Coming back after a big injury and surgery, I have realised playing the last few games it is not as easy as you think. I was eager to come and play but obviously finding the same touch or same rhythm wasn’t coming easily as I thought it would. It is a learning for me as a player, happy I could spend some time in the middle and I started feeling good. In this format when you hit the first six off the middle gives you the confidence, I think the Hong Kong game I got a free-hit and though I didn’t time it as well I could, I still hit the ball out of the ground and it felt good.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH- Virat Kohli