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OTD In 2022: Virat Kohli Broke The 1021 Days Shackle To Become Himself Again

Soumyajit Dutta

Virat Kohli ended his 1021 days of drought [Source: @amin_mayna/X.com]Virat Kohli ended his 1021 days of drought [Source: @amin_mayna/X.com]

The number hung in the air, a ghost in the stifling Dubai heat, 1021 days. A thousand and twenty-one days since an international hundred. For a man who treated centuries like seasons, it was an eternity. For Virat Kohli, it was a weight that was weighing him down.

But on September 8, 2022, in a format he was told was too short for his kind of magic, against an Afghanistan team nursing its own heartbreak, Virat Kohli finally slayed his ghost.

The Kohli Spice That Was Missing

Even he seemed shocked it came here, in the blue of India's T20 kit. Promoted to open in a dead rubber, the first ten balls were a careful 10 runs, a man feeling his way back into the light. Then, something clicked as the 'King' started to hunt.

He took down Mujeeb Ur Rahman, charging down the wicket to negate the mystery, even employing the un-Kohli-like sweep. He overtook his fluent partner, KL Rahul. And then, in the eighth over, the drought nearly continued. A mis-timed pull off Mohammad Nabi spiralled into the sky. Ibrahim Zadran settled under it, misjudged it, and could only palm it over the rope for six.

From that moment, it was not a question of if, but of how many. Rahul fell for a brisk 62. Suryakumar Yadav came and went in a two-ball blaze. At the other end, Kohli was entering a phase he had been desperate to reclaim, the death overs, with his eye in and the field out.

Kohli then charged the world's best T20 bowler, Rashid Khan, and launched him for a six that seemed to defy physics. The left-arm quicks, Fareed Ahmad and Fazalhaq Farooqi, were dismantled with brutality. The fifty came off 32 balls. The next fifty would come off just 21.

The End Of The Drought

Virat Kohli celebrates after the century [Source: @kishu_kamath/X.com]Virat Kohli celebrates after the century [Source: @kishu_kamath/X.com]

And then, it arrived. A short-of-a-length delivery from Fareed Ahmad. A pull shot, ferocious and flat, sailing over the deep mid-wicket boundary. Seventy-one. The elusive 71st international hundred. The shock on his face was palpable. He roared, a primal release of three years of frustration, before a serene smile took over. He kissed his wedding ring, a tribute to Anushka, the anchor through the storm.

The final over was a victory lap, a master showing off his entire gallery: a charge and a flick for six, an audacious no-look pull for another six, and finally, the classic cover drive, scorching the turf for four. He finished 122 not out off 61 balls at a strike rate of 200. A vintage Virat masterpiece, crafted in the unlikeliest of formats.