Asia Cup 2023: Virat Kohli Has Reached The Business End Of His Career, On The Path To Sporting Immortality

After his scintillating 47th ODI hundred at the Premadasa on Monday against Pakistan, Kohli has taken his game to the next level and one could feel that he is slowly and surely turning a corner.

The statistics are all there to show that he is already the Greatest Of All Time as far as ODI batting is concerned and it's only a matter of time before he breaks Sachin Tendulkar's once-insurmountable benchmark in hundreds and runs.

Looking beyond the stats, it's the evolution of Kohli into an absolute beast with his maturity in batting approach and the willingness to take the game deep that is striking off late.

The opposition knows he is the key wicket and he knows he is the key wicket and he wins every time he bats until the 45th over of the innings while India bats first and take the team home when they are chasing.

There is a spring in his step ever since he came back from the loss of form for a couple of years and he is making up for lost time with a vengeance.

The hunger in his batting is a reflection of the hunger in his approach towards the game and at times one can't help but be reminded of the Virat Kohli of old times.

It's just that the hunger is channeled differently with the focus being on taking the team to a big score or chasing down successfully and applying pressure on the opposition with his presence.

It's a battle of the mind that Kohli is looking to win off late by picking and choosing bowlers and overs to target them, which is a result of the vast experience he has as an ODI batsman.

Having played 279 one-dayers, Kohli is the master of assessing situations and scenarios in crucial matches such as the one against Pakistan in the Super Four few days back.

It was a classic case of how Kohli paces his innings and then launches himself at bowlers when the time is ripe. The likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan were at the receiving end.

KOHLI KEY AT WORLD CUP

It goes without saying that Kohli will play a critical role for India in the Asia Cup final but more importantly he will be the fulcrum of India's planning at the World Cup.

And the stage where his career is right now, Kohli would know himself that it is time for him to seal his status as an all-time great by being a World Cup winner for the second time.

He was at a nascent stage of his career when India won the 2011 World Cup at home but this time around he has an opportunity to do an encore as one of the leading men of the Indian team.

As we say in sport, a player's true value as an all-time great is also determined by the global trophies he wins for his country and not just by his individual stats.

In that sense, Kohli will want to prove that he is a true great in essence with match-winning performances at the World Cup down the line and ofcourse the Asia Cup final before that.