Dubai, Sep 8 (IANS): After an extended period of nearly three years, star India batter Virat Kohli slammed his 71st international hundred and his first in T20Is during his team's game against Afghanistan in Super Four stage of the Asia Cup 2022 at the Dubai International Stadium, here on Thursday.

Kohli, who last scored an international century in a day-night Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in November 2019, ended the drought after 1020 days.

The star batter, who opened the batting with Rohit Sharma rested, put on a quickfire stand with KL Rahul for the opening wicket, before going berserk toward the end to get to the big milestone in 53 balls.

Kohli completed 3500 runs during the course of the innings, becoming the second men's player to the landmark in T20Is after Rohit Sharma. He also completed 100 sixes in his T20I career, becoming the 10th men's player to reach the milestone.

His 61-ball 122 helped India post a daunting 212/2 batting first, the highest score in the Asia Cup 2022 tournament so far.