Kohli set to play 100th T20I today: A look at the batter's career in short

Indian cricket star Virat Kohli is all set to play his 100th T20I match when he takes to the field against Pakistan in the much-anticipated Asia Cup 2022 campaign opener today, becoming the first Indian to play a century of matches in all formats of the sport at international level.

Ever since his T20I debut against Zimbabwe back in 2010, he has been one of India's most reliable batters in the shortest format of the game and has enviable numbers and some records to his name. On his debut T20I match, Virat had scored an unbeaten 26 off 21 balls and formed a 64-run stand which helped India win the match by six wickets. Ever since then, his stature has grown massively in international cricket, including T20Is.

 

Since then, he has represented India in 99 T20I matches, across which he has scored 3,308 runs at an average of 50.12. Virat's individual best performance in this format is 94*. His strike rate in this format is 137.66. 30 half-centuries have come out of his bat in this format and he is yet to score a century here.

He is the third-highest run scorer in T20I cricket, following Rohit Sharma (3,487) and New Zealand's Martin Guptill (3,497) and his country's second highest-run scorer.

Virat has second most fifty-plus scores in T20Is, with 30. At first is his skipper Rohit Sharma who has 31 fifty-plus scores, including four centuries.

He is the fourth-fastest batter to reach 1,000 runs in T20I cricket (27 innings) and the second fastest to reach 2,000 runs (56 innings) and 2,500 runs (68 innings).

Virat has won the second highest number of 'Player of the Match' awards in T20Is, with 12, following Afghanistan's Mohammed Nabi (13). He also has the most number of 'Player of the Series' awards in T20I format, with total of seven such awards.

Virat is a man of big occassions. He has performed really well for India in ICC T20 World Cup events.

In his debut ICC T20 World Cup in 2012, he played in five matches and scored 185 runs at an average of 46.25. He scored two half-centuries in the tournament with the best of 78*. He was among the top-ten run scorers in the tournament.

In the next two editions in 2014 and 2016, he performed brilliantly with the bat and became only player to be crowned the 'Man of the Tournament' twice in T20 World Cup history.

In the 2014 edition, he scored 319 runs in six games at an average of 106.33. Four half-centuries came out of his bat, with best score being 77. India lost to Sri Lanka in final of this tournament.

In the next tournament in 2016, Virat scored 273 runs at an average of 136.50. Three half-centuries came out of his bat in five games, with his best individual score being 89*.

The whole of 2016 was Virat's peak, including in T20Is. In 15 T20Is that year, he scored 641 runs in 13 innings at an average of 106.43. Seven half-centuries came out of his bat with best of 90*. This is his most successful year in T20Is.

However, T20 World Cup 2021 was a disappointment as not only was team India knocked out in group stages, Kohli could score only 68 runs in three innings at an average of 34.00 and struck one half-century.

As a captain, Virat has a great record in T20Is. Between 2017-2021, this star batter has led his side 50 teams as captain. Out of these 50 games, he has won 30, lost 16. Two matches have ended in a tie while two failed to produce a result. His win percentage as a captain in this format is an impressive 64.58. However, he could not win T20 World Cup for India as a skipper.

This time around, challenges will be plenty for Virat when he takes to the field. Not only his team has to avenge its loss to Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2021, but he also has to regain his best form.

The star batter has gone more than 1,000 days without an international ton.

Since his last international century in November 2019, Kohli has played a total of 27 T20Is since his final international ton, he has scored 858 runs in this format at an average of 42.90. His best score in this format is 94*. He has hit eight half-centuries in this format since his last ton.

In all formats combined, he has featured in 68 international matches since his last international ton, and scored 2,554 runs across all formats in 82 innings at an average of 34.05. He has hit 24 half-centuries across all formats.

2022 in particular has been very tough for Virat.

This year, Virat has played only four T20Is for his side, across which he has scored 81 runs at a subpar average of 20.25. His best score in the format this year is 52.

Across all formats this year, he has represented India in 16 matches and across 19 innings, he had been able to score only 476 runs at a sub-par average of 25.05. Only four half-centuries have come off his bat, with the best score of 79.

Today, all eyes will be glued to the TVs, with the fans hoping that India not only avenges their previous loss to Pakistan, but Virat also scores big.

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Hasan Ali, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir, Mohammad Hasnain.