India legend Sunil Gavaskar has backed Virat Kohli to score more hundreds in T20Is after the 33-year-old hit his 71st international hundred as he reached the three-figure mark for the first time in the game’s shortest format.
Gavaskar also opened up on Kohli’s poor form, saying there wasn’t any monkey on his back, an indirect dig at Ravi Shastri and Gautam Gambhir. The two former players had said a monkey was on the right-handed batter’s back, and he got rid of it by slamming a ton.
“Look, anybody with 70 hundreds, can’t have a monkey on his back. This was his first hundred in T20Is, and don’t be surprised if he hits many more,” Sunil Gavaskar told India Today.
“People wonder when a big player doesn’t score a hundred. Even in this period, he was getting half-centuries. However, he could not convert those to a hundred,” he added.
Virat struck 122 to take India to 212 for two against Afghanistan. He took 61 balls and hit 12 fours and 6 sixes at the Dubai International Stadium.
With his 71st century, he has equalled Ricky Ponting’s tally of international hundreds. He is now only behind Sachin Tendulkar, who has 100 hundreds.