Champions Trophy: Kohli’s vintage century helps India cruise to six-wicket win over Pakistan
Dubai: Virat Kohli brought back his vintage best to hit his 51st ODI century off 111 balls and help India inch closer to a semi-finals spot with a comprehensive six-wicket win over Pakistan in the high-stakes 2025 Champions Trophy Group A clash at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
India had come into the game as favourites to win this game, and justified that billing through an impressive bowling performance to bundle out Pakistan for 241 in 49.4 overs. In the chase, Kohli led the charge by hitting seven boundaries in a sublime knock and sharing a solid 114-run stand with Shreyas Iyer, who made a 67-ball 56, as India reached home with 45 balls to spare.
Chasing 242, Rohit Sharma got going by edging Naseem Shah for a four and followed it up with a trademark pick-up going for six, which helped him go past 9,000 runs as an opener in ODIs and becoming the sixth player to do so. From the other end, Gill began with two boundaries off Shaheen Shah Afridi.
But Shaheen struck in the fifth over by deceiving Rohit with late movement on a 143kmph inswinging yorker, and castling him through the gate. But Gill was undeterred and went on to hit Shaheen for five boundaries, with the front foot straight drive gently punched past the pacer. By the time power-play ended, Gill had collected 35 runs off 25 balls against Shaheen.
Shortly after, Gill was dropped on 35 by Khushdil Shah off Haris Rauf, who was later creamed for two boundaries by Kohli, as the veteran batter crossed 14,000 ODI runs mark. But his innings came to an end on 46 when wrist-spinner Abrar Ahmed deceived Gill with a ripping carrom ball delivery that crashed into his off-stump.
Kohli and Iyer pulled Haris Rauf for a boundary each before the former got his fifty by lofting Naseem over the in-field for four, before dispatching Shaheen over long-on for another boundary. With less than 90 runs needed, Iyer, who was on 17 off 34 balls at one point, shifted his gears by smashing Khushdil for back-to-back fours, before being dropped on 25 by Saud Shakeel.
Iyer welcomed Salman Ali Agha by dancing down the pitch and clubbing over mid-wicket for six, before rocking back to smash Khushdil through point for four more. After both batters became beneficiaries of missed direct hit chances, Kohli nicely rolled his wrists against Rauf for a delightful boundary, while Iyer took a single off Abrar to get his 21st ODI fifty in 63 balls.
After dispatching Khushdil for a down-the-ground four, Iyer rocked back to slash but was caught by extra cover diving to his right. With an eye to finish off the game quickly, Hardik Pandya was promoted but fell right after pulling behind a bouncer from Shaheen to keeper Mohammad Rizwan.
There was some tension on whether Kohli would get his hundred or not with 12 runs remaining. But with Axar Patel refusing a double, Kohli quashed all those doubts by dancing down the pitch and slamming Khushdil through extra cover for a four to raise his bat and look upwards, as he led the charge in another successful chase for India in ODIs.
Brief Scores: Pakistan 241 all out in 49.4 overs (Saud Shakeel 62, Mohammad Rizwan 46; Kuldeep Yadav 3-40, Hardik Pandya 2-31) lost to India 244/4 in 42.3 overs (Virat Kohli 100 not out, Shreyas Iyer 56; Shaheen Shah Afridi 2-74) by six wickets