Pakistan was the nominal ‘home’ team for its must-win encounter against India. But in front of a near sell-out crowd, more than three-fourths of whom were decked in blue, the Men in Green got blown away by one of Virat Kohli’s classic ODI masterclass knocks as he belted out his best hits and reaffirmed his status as one of the greatest to have played this format.
The 36-year-old’s breezy unbeaten 100 (111b, 7×4) powered the Men in Blue to a comprehensive six-wicket win over its great rival in the second league match (Group-A) of the ICC Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday (February 23, 2025).
Chasing 242, skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill lit the early fireworks before Kohli took centre stage. From the moment he drilled Haris Rauf for two trademark cover drives in an over, the 36-year-old showed he meant business.
In recent times, Kohli has struggled against the tweakers but looked far more assured against Pakistan’s thin spin attack, rotating the strike comfortably and taking his chances against the quicks.
He pulled Rauf to the fine-leg fence and got to his half-century by depositing Naseem Shah over covers. In Shreyas Iyer (56), Kohli had an able ally and a fine player of spin who dismantled the part-timers. The duo’s 114-run partnership for the third wicket took the game away from the opponents.
Pakistan’s only chance to stay in the game depended on early wickets, but Gill extinguished those ideas immediately, taking Afridi to the cleaners by smashing him for seven boundaries. He pierced the covers, pulled and lofted through the leg-side and executed a copy-book straight drive.
Earlier in the afternoon, Pakistan’s innings see-sawed through the 50 overs after electing to bat during which a promising platform came undone in the middle and ended in a middling 241. Saud Shakeel’s half-century (62) and Khushdil Shah’s (38) final flourish were the bright spots in an otherwise disappointing batting effort.
On a two-paced surface, Pakistan batters’ problem of playing too many dot balls (80 in the first 20 overs) reared its ugly head against a disciplined bowling effort.
Babar Azam got the team off to a good start and unleashed pristine drives through the off-side. At the other end, opener Imam-ul-Haq though gobbled up deliveries in the PowerPlay without scoring a single boundary and was eventually run-out going for a non-existent single.
Shakeel and skipper Mohammed Rizwan (46) then forged a 104-run alliance for the third wicket and set a good platform. The duo took their time as they struggled against Hardik (8-0-31-2), who cramped the batters for room and consistently hit the good-length area.
In an attempt to up the ante, Pakistan lost three wickets for 14 runs, including the two set batters. Axar cleaned up Rizwan while Shakeel holed out in the deep, trying to pull Hardik.
Kuldeep then ran through the lower-order, scalping three wickets before Khushdil’s late flourish.
However, as they say, cometh the hour, cometh the man. Like he has done numerous times while shepherding a chase, Kohli rewound the clock and fittingly closed out the match by driving Khushdil through covers to notch up his 51st ODI ton.
Scoreboard
Pakistan innings: Imam-ul-Haq run out (Axar) 10 Babar Azam c Rahul b Pandya 23 Saud Shakeel c Axar b Pandya 62 Mohammad Rizwan b Axar 46 Salman Aga c Jadeja b Kuldeep 19 Tayyab Tahir b Jadeja 4 Khushdil Shah c Kohli b Rana 38 Shaheen Shah Afridi lbw b Kuldeep 0 Naseem Shah c Kohli b Kuldeep 14 Haris Rauf run out (Axar/Rahul) 8 Abrar Ahmed not out 0 Extras: 17 (lb-8, w-9)
Total: 241 in 49.4 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-47, 3-151, 4-159, 5-165, 6-200, 7-200, 8-222, 9-241, 10-241
Indian bowling: Mohammed Shami 8-0-43-0, Harshit Rana 7.4-0-30-1, Hardik Pandya 8-0-31-2, Axar Patel 10-0-49-1, Kuldeep Yadav 9-0-40-3, Ravindra Jadeja 7-0-40-1.
India innings: Rohit Sharma b Afridi 20 Shubman Gill b Abrar 46 Virat Kohli not out 100 Shreyas Iyer c Imam b Shah 56 Hardik Pandya c Rizwan b Afridi 8 Axar Patel not out 3 Extras: 11 (w-11)
Total: 244/4 in 42.3 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-100, 3-214, 4-223
Pakistan bowling: Shaheen Shah Afridi 8-0-74-2, Naseem Shah 8-0-37-0, Haris Rauf 7-0-52-0, Abrar Ahmed 10-0-28-1, Khushdil Shah 7.3-0-43-1, Salman Agha 2-0-10-0.
Published – February 23, 2025 07:03 pm IST
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