Virat Kohli had a strong and defiant message for his critics which he shared with Bhuvneshwar Kumar during the match against Afghanistan on Thursday. Kohli and Kumar were the stars of the show in India’s final Super Fours clash as they scripted a memorable win in Dubai as the team ended their Asia Cup campaign on a high.

After being put into bat by Mohammed Nabi, Kohli and KL Rahul ensured that they made the Afghanistan skipper regret his decision instantly. The openers got off to a fine start and the 33-year-old carried on to score a fine hundred. This was Kohli’s first international century since 2019 and he ensured that India reached a strong total at the end of their allotted 20 overs.

Then it was Kumar’s time to shine with the ball and he destroyed the Afghanistan batting lineup during the powerplay. The Indian pacer ended up with figures of five wickets for just four runs in his full quota of overs. Afghanistan never really recovered from it and ended up scoring just 111 runs to hand India a 101-run win on Thursday.

However, there was a special moment, captured by Star Sports, during the innings break where Kohli had a message to his critics while he was talking to Kumar. He told the Indian pacer that there is cricket still left in him and he is far from done.

“Abhi baki hai cricket (Cricket is still left in me),” said Kohli. After the match the star batter admitted that he surprised himself with his knock and played out of his skin to score his maiden T20I hundred on Thursday. “Today, I think was just a build up of the last few games – I actually batted out of my skin to be honest, I surprised myself,” said Kohli.

Virat Kohli to Bhuvneshwar Kumar after yesterday's century – "Abhi baki hai cricket (Cricket is still left in me)" – Virat Kohli is True Champion, True Fighter.https://t.co/tyKu4qGmMK

— Tanuj Singh (@ImTanujSingh) September 9, 2022