Virat Kohli silences critics, smashes record 51st ODI century as dominant India beat Pakistan by 6 wickets

DUBAI: For a while, it looked like he would narrowly missed his date with it. And then, Virat Kohli skipped out of the crease, unleashed that thunderous cover drive off Khushdil Shah for a four, and there it was. Century no 51 in the ODIs-two more than the legendary Sachin Tendulkar's 49, and the first since the landmark No 50 came, with Tendulkar watching, at the Wankhede Stadium in the 2023 World Cup semifinals against New Zealand.
Soon after hitting the boundary which took him past his ton and India to a seven-wicket win over a listless Pakistan, Kohli took his helmet off and looked towards the skies, and then asked his captain, Rohit Sharma to calm down, since he was there in the middle!
Shrugging off all talk about his ability to play spin, 'King Kohli,' who trained for an extra couple of hours on the eve of this match against the local spinners with India's batting coaches to help him out, roared back into form in grand style when it mattered in the big game-or is an India versus Pakistan match even a big game anymore considering that India cruise through it nowadays without much challenge?

Unleashing his vintage form with premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah, currently out injured, and India's T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav watching from the stands along with several other former cricketing stars of India and Pakistan, India's ageing warrior, bring out is vintage form, cracked a regal century (100 not out, 111b, 7x4), adding 114 in 128 balls for the third wicket with the in-form Shreyas Iyer (56, 67b, 5x4, 1x6) to help India coast to a comfortable six-wicket win over Pakistan in a Group A match of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy on Sunday night at the Dubai International Stadium.
Also See: Champions Trophy 2025 Points Table | Champions Trophy Full Schedule 2025
Going past the landmark of 14,000 ODI runs - by reaching there in just his 287th innings, he broke Tendulkar's record (350 innings) during his umpteenth memorable knock with a trademark cover drive off Haris Rauf, the 36-year-old reached his half-century, off 62 balls, with a four to deep cover for four off Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Riding on Kohli's magic, India, the 2023 World Cup finalists, have now virtually entered the semifinals of the Champions Trophy. Meanwhile, much to their embarrassment and their fans' disappointment, the crushing defeat to their arch-rivals has almost sent Pakistan, the defending champions and the tournament hosts, packing after they lost their first two matches to New Zealand and India. If New Zealand beat Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on Monday, India are through to the last four, while Pakistan will be officially out.
Apart from their below-par bowling and batting, Pakistan were left to rue their poor fielding too, as they left off Iyer on 25 when Saud Shakeel dropped a chance at mid-wicket off Khushdil Shah. Khushdil himself was guilty of dropping India opener Shubman Gill at mid-wicket in the 11th over off Rauf.

Continuing his blazing form, Gill cracked a stroke-filled 46 (52b, 7x4) before he was castled by a 'jaffa' from leggie Abrar Ahmed-the ball turned a fair bit to hit the top of the off-stump- while Indian captain Rohit Sharma again provided India a brisk start with a 15-ball 20-run cameo that included three fours and a six. Rohit lost his middle stump to a superb inswinging yorker unleashed by Shaheen Shah Afridi, conjuring up memories of an lbw dismissal for duck at the hands of a similar 'masterpiece' by Afridi back in the 2021 T20 World Cup.
That was the only cheer for Pakistan and Afridi on the night, as the left-arm quick went for 2-74 in eight overs.

Earlier, delivering an efficient show, India's bowlers wrapped up Pakistan's innings for 241 in 49.4 overs.
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, Pakistan, apart from a phase when middle-order batters Saud Shakeel (62, 76b, 5x4) and skipper Mohammed Rizwan (46, 77b, 3x4) added 104 for the third wicket in 144 balls, kept losing wickets regularly, with Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav (three for 40 in nine overs) and allrounder Hardik Pandya (2-31 in eight overs) being the pick of the lot.
Fighting for survival in the tournament, Pakistan's plight would've been worse had it not been for a cameo by Khushdil, who followed up on his 49-ball 69 in the last match against New Zealand with a crucial 38 (39b, 2x6), even as the 2017 Champions Trophy winners, suffering a late collapse, lost their last five wickets for just 41 runs in 42 balls.

Openers Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam added 41 in 50 balls, before Pandya broke the partnership in the ninth over as Babar Azam (23, 26b, 5x4), who was looking impressive till then, nicked an away going ball behind.
Pakistan lost their other opener in the next over itself when Imam ul Haq, included at the last minute after both first-choice openers Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman were ruled out injured, was run out for 10 while going for a risky single, as a direct hit by Axar Patel, from mid-on found him short.