Asia Cup 2022: "No one called him, but God made a call" - Shoaib Akhtar on Virat Kohli's 71st international hundred

Virat Kohli finally ended his long century drought on Thursday with his 71st international hundred in the Asia Cup encounter against Afghanistan. Kohli was simply sensational as he scored an unbeaten 122* off just 61 balls and took India to a mammoth 212/2 in their 20 overs.

Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar congratulated Kohli for finally getting over the mental hurdles after almost three years. He feels the star Indian batter shouldn't become complacent but push on and try to break Sachin Tendulkar's record of 100 international hundreds.

Speaking in a video on his YouTube channel after the match, here's the prediction that Shoaib Akhtar made for Virat Kohli:

"No one called him, but God made a call that he will score his 71st hundred. Similarly I have made a call that he will score 100 hundreds. No matter how exhausted he gets and how many bones he breaks, Kohli will need to get those 29 more hundreds to become the greatest of the greats."

Shoaib Akhtar on Virat Kohli's acceleration

Virat Kohli brought up his fifty off 32 balls, but then changed gears emphatically, scoring an incredible 72 runs off his next 29 balls. After watching the second half of his innings, where he was literally toying with the fielders, Shoaib Akhtar is convinced that the vintage Kohli is back.

On this, the former speedster stated:

"The first fifty runs of Kohli, he didn't look like himself. But I realized that Kohli has arrived when he scored his next fifty runs to get to that hundred. He was scoring runs at will and playing incredible shots."

The six-week break certainly seems to have helped Kohli. But will he be able to sustain his form till the T20 World Cup with a couple of big series against Australia and South Africa coming up? Let us know in the comments.