Kohli tons it on

Batting stalwart’s century aganist arch-rivals Pakistan all but seals India’s semi-final spot; Rohit & Co continue dominance over neighbours with six-wicket victory

Unflustered and unhurried, India completed their second successful run-chase in four nights to take a giant step towards their first little goal at the Champions Trophy.

This time, there was none of the nerves that characterised their six-wicket defeat of Bangladesh on Thursday. Against traditional rivals Pakistan, India brought their ‘A’ game at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, a familiar figure guiding them to another six-wicket victory and a step closer to a place in the semi-finals.

Shreyas Iyer celebrates his half-century. Pic/AFP

Virat, a champion chaser

Virat Kohli hasn’t had the best time of late in international cricket, the second-innings century in the first Test in Perth in November apart, but the former skipper was in his elements, slipping into the role of the chasemeister that comes almost naturally to him. Walking in at the start of the sixth over with India on 31 for one, chasing 242 after a competent collective bowling effort nipped a burgeoning Pakistani innings in the bud, Kohli took it upon himself to mastermind the reply, striking up decisive partnerships with Shubman Gill and then Shreyas Iyer. From the time he took guard, Kohli looked the part, moving beautifully into his strokes. Very early in the piece, a peachy off-drive off Haris Rauf, that made him the fastest of the three batters to reach 14,000 ODI runs, suggested he was in the mood. Without going into overdrive, he was in supreme control, bringing up his 51st hundred with the winning boundary.

Rohit Sharma, who lost yet another toss, had got the team off to a rollicking start until Shaheen Shah Afridi’s inswinging yorker o plucked out the skipper’s middle stump. Gill was in supreme touch before falling for less than 50 for the first time in five ODIs when Abrar Ahmed produced a carrom ball to clip his off-stump.

Shreyas shines again

Iyer began slowly but blossomed to play an enterprising hand. Fears that chasing might be tricky were unfounded, maybe because of how well the Indian batters acquitted themselves. Further, apart from Abrar, Pakistan’s slower bowlers hardly looked threatening. Iyer fell with victory imminent, playing an equal hand in a stand of 114 with Kohli.

Brief scores
Pakistan 241 all out in 49.4 overs (S Shakeel 62, M Rizwan 46; K Yadav 3-40, H Pandya 2-31) lost to India 244-4 in 42.3 overs (V Kohli 100*, S Iyer 56, S Gill 46; S Afridi 2-74) by six wickets

14,085
Number of ODI runs scored by Virat Kohli

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