India's Virat Kohli says he was "pleasantly surprised" to get his long-awaited century in the short format as he targets more runs in the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Kohli on Thursday scored his 71st international ton -- his first ever in a T20 for India -- after a gap of 1,020 days to help India end the Asia Cup with a crushing win over Afghanistan in Dubai.
India's campaign in the tournament ended early after they lost their first two Super 4 matches to Pakistan and Sri Lanka -- the teams that made Sunday's final with two wins each.
But Kohli shrugged off his extended dry run with the bat to score two successive half-centuries and then an unbeaten 122 off 61 balls to lead the tournament batting chart so far with 276 runs in five matches. "This tournament was important for us," Kohli said in an interview with skipper Rohit Sharma on India's cricket board website. "We got an exposure of a knockout stage, of being under pressure but our goal is the World Cup in Australia and we are improving as a team.