Ravi Shastri claims that Virat Kohli must have shed his mental baggage after scoring his 71st international century

Recently, former India skipper Virat Kohli scored his much-awaited 71st international century after a wait of more than 1000 days. His last century had come way back in November 2019 in a pink-ball Test match against Bangladesh in Kolkata. Since then, he was struggling to get the three-figure mark for around three years. However, the wait was finally over during the Asia Cup 2022 game between India and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, former India head coach Ravi Shastri has pointed out of those more than 1000 days, he was with Kohli for 700 days. Shastri explained that when a player such as Kohli sets such lofty standards, people tend to remind that a player hasn't scored a century for a long-time. The 1983 World Cup winner also said that this phase might have eaten him up mentally.

"You mentioned 1020 days, I can say 700 days I was in that dressing room when that happened. It's a long time. The monkey is off his back now. When you had astounding success like he has when 70 hundreds come like this, then you go through a patch of one, two years, two-and-half years, two-and-three quarter years, and then everyday people start reminding - 'It's been that long'. He is human. It would have been eating him up. He would be getting up every morning, whether thinking of it or not, subconsciously being reminded," Ravi Shastri said on Star Sports.

Kohli must have lost five kilos from his head: Ravi Shastri

The former all-rounder added that Kohli might have shed five kilos of mental baggage that he was carrying in the last couple of years. The former also pointed out that he could see the hundred coming after watching Kohli score the first 40 runs.

"Today, I think he will be five kilos less. Don't ask me where the weight has gone from, five kilos less at least from the head. You could see from the last 40 runs of his innings. It was Virat Kohli. His trade mark shots, the confidence, the poise, the utter disdain for bowling is back. It took a long time coming."