'Main aisa hairan hua' - When Rashid Khan narrated surprising Virat Kohli tale

India's cricket maestro Virat Kohli had silenced his critics with an amazing T20I century against Afghanistan in the 2022 Asia Cup to break a long-standing drought as the century marked the end of a challenging two-year period during which Kohli grappled with inconsistent form, casting shadows over his position in the Indian batting lineup.

The slump extended to the 2022 IPL season, where Kohli, the tournament's all-time leading run-scorer, struggled to find his rhythm. In 16 matches, he scored 341 runs at an average of 22.73. Yet, amidst the rough patch, Kohli's relentless work ethic shone through.

During the 2022 IPL season, Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan spinner representing Gujarat Titans, witnessed Kohli's unwavering commitment firsthand. Ahead of their clash against RCB, the spinner was amazed to see Kohli spending extensive hours in the nets, fine-tuning his skills and preparing for the upcoming match.

"During the IPL, we had a match the next day against RCB. In the nets, I was just counting the time Virat was out there. To be honest, he batted for two and half hours. Main aisa hairan hua (I was so shocked). Our nets were finished and still, he was there batting. The next day, he scored around 70 against us. His mindset is very positive," said Rashid as quoted by One Cricket.

Despite the dip in form, he observed that Kohli's impeccable timing during practice sessions didn't reflect a batter grappling with poor form. Rashid commended Kohli's resilience, especially in Test cricket, where he consistently faced challenging situations and played brilliant innings.

"When he bats, he plays such wonderful shots that to me, he doesn't appear to be out-of-form at all). The expectations are much more. People want him to score a hundred every second game. If you look at his Test match innings, he has got through the tough time, batted well, then somehow he has gotten out for 50 or 60 or 70. If there was any other normal batter then everyone would have said that he is in form but with Virat the expectations are such that they only want centuries," added Rashid.

It will be intriguing to see Kohli's performance in the second T20 of the series against Afghanistan on January 14 at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore. He is poised to make a comeback to the T20 format after a significant hiatus, having last played one in the 2022 World Cup in Australia.