Asia Cup 2022: Team India encourages Virat Kohli ahead of his 100th T20I appearance

Dubai [UAE], August 28 : Members of the Indian cricket team extended their support to star batter Virat Kohli who will represent the country in T20I format for the 100th time today when he takes to the field for a blockbuster clash against Pakistan at Asia Cup 2022, becoming the first Indian to play a century of games across all formats of the sport.
Skipper Rohit Sharma said that Virat's hunger and passion for the game are unmatched.
"Every time you see him, he comes with a different energy all the time. It is not easy to play 100 games for India across formats. I would like to congratulate him. Every time we see him, his game seems to be on a different level," said Rohit on Star Sports.
Skipper hoped that the star batter is at his best throughout the tournament.
KL Rahul said that Virat had guided the current young Indian set-up to where it is now.
"You have made us realise that we can try to push boundaries and improve in terms of skill and fitness," he added.
Star T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav said, "It is another milestone for you Virat bhai. The way you are on the field, be the same way, electrifying and spreading as much knowledge as possible to all. Love to see you on the ground."
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, his teammate in the under-19 2008 World Cup winning team said that Virat's dedication and hunger for runs are the same as it was back in the under-19 days.
Veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar said that Virat's legacy is not scoring runs, but the way he approaches the game.
Rishabh Pant also said that it is amazing that Virat has played 100 T20Is and 400-500 games in international cricket as well.
"It is his legacy that he has won so many matches for India. His career inspires people, that their life would be better if they do anything close to what he has done," he added.
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.
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 a total of seven such awards.T20Is.
Coming to the match, India will start its Asia Cup campaign against Pakistan today.
Today, all eyes will be glued to the TVs, with the fans hoping that India not only avenges their previous loss to Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2021, 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.