Pakistan were made to travel to Dubai to face India in a Champions Trophy they are ostensibly hosting, and returned home on the brink of elimination thanks to Virat Kohli’s 51st ODI century.
Kohli, who will go down as the greatest chaser in one-day internationals, reached his century with the same stroke – a carve through extra cover – that secured a comfortable six-wicket win with 45 balls to spare for India. The result all but confirms India’s place in the semi-finals and puts all other teams on notice: to win this tournament, they must halt the India juggernaut.
It leaves Pakistan, who had already lost to New Zealand, hanging by a thread. They face Bangladesh in their final group game on Thursday, but could easily already be out by then.
A game between India and Pakistan is always the biggest fixture of any global event because of the fierce rivalry and scarcity factor, with their meetings exclusive to tournaments because of political tension.
That tension meant India’s government would not sanction sending a team across the border to Pakistan for the tournament, but the International Cricket Council could not afford to hold the tournament without India.
That has led to a bizarre and imperfect “hybrid event”, which sees India play their games – including against Pakistan, and a potential semi-final and final – in Dubai, while the rest of the tournament continues in Pakistan.
Pakistan have not hosted a global event since the 1996 World Cup and this one saw them trudge to Dubai to play this game, in which they were well beaten. Pakistan are known for being infamously mercurial, but in this tournament they are proving predictably limp.
India have generally dominated Pakistan at global events in recent times. They have never lost to Pakistan at an ODI World Cup (a run of eight matches), and Pakistan have won only one (in 2021) of their seven meetings at the T20 World Cup. Pakistan have fared a little better in the Champions Trophy, beating India at the Oval in 2017 to win the tournament, but it was not to be on this occasion.
Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat, but could muster only 241, a target that never looked enough to worry India’s elegant and experienced batting order.
After Pakistan’s openers Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam fell in the powerplay, Saud Shakeel and captain Mohammad Rizwan steadied the ship with a stand of 104. But when both fell in quick succession, India’s spinners took charge, with Kuldeep Yadav claiming three for 40.
Captain Rohit Sharma got India off to a flyer, before Kohli took control. In the course of his innings, Kohli became the third man to notch 14,000 international runs and by reaching that milestone in his 287th innings, he was the fastest of the three. India’s Sachin Tendulkar (18,426) and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (14,234) are the other two members of a very exclusive club.
He was well supported by Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer. The wickets of Iyer and Hardik Pandya with the finish line in sight did not perturb Kohli, and he timed his run to three figures to perfection. Kohli is 36 now. He retired from T20 internationals after last year’s World Cup win, and his returns have declined in Test cricket, but he remains a master of the ODI format. Remarkably, this was the fifth time he has been named player of the match against Pakistan at an ICC event.
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