Dubai, Feb 23 (IANS) Virat Kohli brought back his vintage self 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. Kuldeep Yadav shone in the back-end to take 3-40, while Hardik Pandya bowled brilliantly to pick 2-31.
On a slow pitch, electing to bat first, Pakistan’s batters started firmly but couldn’t score quickly, with a 104-run stand between Saud Shakeel (62) and Mohammad Rizwan (46) being the only prominent feature of their innings, though it came at a snail’s pace. From 151-2, Pakistan looked prime to go beyond 250, but India triggered a batting meltdown to bowl them out for a total nine runs short of it.
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 in front of a sell-out crowd.
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, Shubman Gill began with two boundaries off Shaheen Shah Afridi.
But Shaheen struck in the fifth over by deceiving Rohit with late movement on a 143 kmph inswinging yorker, and castled 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 for 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.
Previously, India didn’t have the best of starts to their innings with the ball, as Mohammed Shami bowled a wayward 11-ball first over, including conceding five wides. After Babar Azam took two fours via flick and cover drive, Shami experienced trouble in his right shin mid-way in his third over and called the physio for treatment.
Immediately after his over was done, Shami walked off the field, leaving the onus of building pressure on the rest of the bowling line-up. Hardik eventually provided the first breakthrough for India by dragging his length back and bowling outside off-stump to have Azam nicking behind to keeper KL Rahul, who moved low to his right to complete the catch.
Imam-ul-Haq, playing in an ODI for the first time since the 2023 ODI World Cup, was scratchy in his innings, and was run-out for 10 off 26 balls when Axar fired in a direct hit from mid-on and find him well short of the crease despite the opener putting in a desperate dive.
In between, Shami came back and looked much sharper, as India squeezed the pressure on Pakistan by conceding only one boundary in overs 11-20, which yielded only 27 runs. With the pitch showing signs of gripping, it aided in India’s task of keeping Rizwan and Shakeel on a tight leash.
But from the half-way mark, Pakistan began to show some spunk as Rizwan swept Jadeja through square leg for four, before Shakeel brought out the reverse-sweep and sweep against Kuldeep to collect a brace of boundaries. The duo took a boundary each off Jadeja again, before Shakeel got his fourth ODI fifty in 69 balls.
Pakistan upping the ante meant India’s quest of dislodging them came under pressure, which reflected in them missing a direct hit to have Shakeel run-out, followed by Rana dropping a tough running catch at mid-wicket, giving Rizwan a life on 44. But Axar ensured Rana’s drop of Rizwan wasn’t a costly one as he castled the Pakistan captain on 46.
India could have got Shakeel out in the same over if Kuldeep had not shelled a chance at wide long-on. But it again did not cost India much as Hardik took the pace off a short ball and had Shakeel pulling straight to deep mid-wicket. One brought two for India as Tayyab Tahir was castled by Jadeja, as Pakistan lost three wickets for 11 runs in 19 balls.
After that, Pakistan’s slide continued as Kuldeep had Salman Ali Agha caught at cover point and trapped Shaheen Shah Afridi plumb lbw on consecutive googlies, before having Naseem Shah chipping to long-on. Khushdil Shah and Haris Rauf took a six each off Shami, before the duo were out in quick succession as Pakistan would feel they had made enough on a pitch which produced another one-sided win for India, thanks to Kohli’s brilliance.
Brief Scores: Pakistan 241 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
–IANS
nr/