IND vs PAK : Virat Kohli’s Majestic 51st Ton Dismantles Pakistan & Puts Hosts On Brink Of Elimination

Interestingly, it was India that made the more nervous start as Mohammed Shami bowled a 11-ball first over that featured as many as five wides, one of them nearly a regulation take for first slip. The new ball swung for India and in their quest to harness the movement, India pushed their lengths up , even if it meant playing into the hands of the under-fire Babar Azam, who got going with a couple of breezy boundaries.

But even without Jasprit Bumrah as well as a not fully fit Shami – who had to briefly head back to the pavilion with some knee discomfort after his third over – India’s bowlers had the wherewithal to re-calibrate their lengths for this wicket.

Here, they had the luxury of calling on Hardik Pandya, who offered a breakthrough on demand by drawing Babar into a false drive to a ball that wasn’t full enough to be driven. The end of the 41-run opening stand forced Pakistan into another unforced error as the reinstated Imam-ul-Haq went searching for a non-existent single and was caught short at the non-striker’s end by an Axar Patel direct hit.

Pakistan still had 52 runs in the PowerPlay but India’s changed lengths soon brought scoring to a near-screeching halt. The next 10 overs saw Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel manage just 27 runs as the two batters kept finding the fielders in the ring while trying to force the pace against off-paced deliveries.

The dot balls-count piled up to 95 by the 25th over before the pair finally attempted to break free. The attack eventually came when India had two spinners – Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja – operating in tandem. Rizwan swept Jadeja for a four before Shakeel swept and reverse-swept Kuldeep in the following over for boundaries.

Mohammad Rizwan had banked on the innings going so differently. He came in at 47 for 2 and hit his first ball for four and then decided run-scoring was not for him. He was 24 off 50. He barely hit the ball in anger. He point blank refused to. At the other end, Saud Shakeel was at least making an effort to turn the good balls he was facing into singles. When he got to fifty, he had weathered only 29 dot balls. At the same time, Rizwan at the other end, had racked up 40.

India did well by denying him spin to start his innings. But still, this was a better pitch than the opening game in Dubai a few days ago. It wasn’t flat, but it had a little more pace in it, and it got better under lights. Rizwan, though, batted like it was cursed. He was worried bad things would happen if he tried to hit the ball hard.

Slowly but steadily, the partnership swelled past the 100-run mark and Shakeel completed a solid, 63-ball half-century. But just when it was time to press on the accelerator, Pakistan were set back by the dismissal of both the set batters.

Rizwan survived when Harshit Rana put down a tight chance off Hardik, but India’s drought with middle-overs wickets ended in the very next over as the Pakistan captain charged at Axar and yorked himself to get bowled. Axar could have had Shakeel too in the same over but Kuldeep put down a tough chance running in from long-on. But even that miss didn’t cost India much as Hardik dismissed the half-centurion with a short ball in the very next over.

Like in the 2023 World Cup clash between these two, Pakistan squandered a very similar position of strength. From 151/2, they lost 3 for 14 as Jadeja spun one past Tayyab Tahir’s defences. Khushdil Shah and Salman Ali Agha appeared to stem the rot with a busy 35-run partnership but again, having reached 200, when Pakistan were ready to kick on, Kuldeep produced a double-wicket 43rd over against batters who were finding it hard to read him off the hand.

And it kinda did. Rizwan fell trying to hit Axar out of the ground and his wicket triggered a collapse. Shakeel fell in the next over and Tayyab Tahir followed soon after. India, having spent 320 deliveries across two matches searching for a wicket in the middle overs, had found three in the space of four. Pakistan were 165 for 5. Soon they would be 200 for 7, having to negotiate the last 7.1 overs of the innings with their tail exposed.

First, Agha fell trying to swipe across the line but managed only a leading edge to point. Off the very next ball, Kuldeep trapped Shaheen Afridi in front of the stumps with a googly. Khushdil struck two sixes off Shami in his 38 off 39 before he was the last man dismissed with two balls still left in the innings.

India’s discipline never let Pakistan off the hook and leading the way was Hardik, banging the ball just short of a length on a pitch that was offering a bit of grip and some tennis-ball bounce. He took out Babar Azam at a time when India’s lead fast bowler, Mohammed Shami, was off the field with a shin problem and he did Shakeel for lack of pace just after the left-hander had smacked him for four.

He always knew what to do to exploit the conditions and make the batter’s life miserable. On the back of his work, Kuldeep and Rana bowled 6.4 death overs for 28 runs and picked up four wickets.

Virat Kohli’s majestic 51st 100* aided by Shreyas Iyer’s half century headlines India’s comprehensive win

Where India made quick adjustments with the ball, Pakistan were guilty of not doing so when it was their turn under the lights. Shaheen Afridi, in particular, bowled too full, even though one such ball – a sensational inswinging yorker – uprooted Rohit Sharma’s middle-stump. The Indian captain had raced away to 20 off 15 before his dismissal but Shubman Gill ensured there was no dip in the momentum by taking on Shaheen, unafraid to step out and drive the left-arm seamer in the ‘v’.

At the end of the PowerPlay, India had 64 runs shaved off the target, allowing Virat Kohli to play in a tempo he’s mastered over his glittering 17-year ODI career. Virat Kohli got going with a couple of check-driven fours off Haris Rauf, one of which took him past 14000 ODI runs – the fastest to the landmark.

Gill was the star of India’s chase early on, a conscious effort to keep his front foot from moving too far forward and across leaving him excellently placed to take advantage of Afridi and his full length deliveries when there was no swing on offer.

When he rammed the Pakistan fast bowler down the ground and then one-upped it by coming down the track and lifting the ball into the sightscreen, it looked like it was going to be his day. Abrar intervened with a ball that drifted in through the air, tempting the right-hander to close the face of his bat, and turned away to rattle middle and off stump. Gill was stunned.

Once the spinners came on, Virat Kohli went about building his innings through strike rotation. Virat Kohli’s 69-run stand with Gill was ended when Abrar Ahmed ripped a ball past the Indian vice-captain and castled him, four short of another half-century. It followed a sedate period of scoring with Shreyas Iyer taking his time to get going.

Virat Kohli, too, offered a shrug of his shoulders. He looked vulnerable against Abrar too and was almost bowled playing back to him. But against the quicks, he was vintage. He went past 14,000 runs with a crisp cover drive off Haris Rauf. All of Pakistan’s best bowlers offer pace on the ball. And that is Virat Kohli’s happy place. A batter of his quality needs to be made uncomfortable at the crease when he is new. He had been dismissed five times in his last six ODIs by legspin. Pakistan had one of those and they felt they couldn’t go to him.

By then, India were so far ahead in the game that they weren’t going to be pushed into panic. Virat Kohli also ensured that he took down Shaheen and Naseem for boundaries early in their overs as soon as they returned to the attacks. Eventually, Iyer, who was on 17 off 34 at that point, caught up with the scoring by sweeping and reverse-sweeping Khushdil for fours and was reprieved on the way when Saud Shakeel put down a touch chance at mid-wicket.

Shreyas Iyer helped himself to a half-century. A little change in his technique where he holds his bat higher and waves it as the bowler approaches, creating momentum into his shots, is helping him deal with an earlier weakness against the short ball. He clubbed Rauf for four in front of square to prove it. But there was no taking the spotlight from his senior partner.

From there on, it was a cruise to the finish even as India lost Iyer (56 off 67) and Hardik. The only narrative left to uncover was if Virat Kohli would get to his hundred. Virat Kohli got there by slapping his 111th ball for a four with two runs left for the win. It was all too easy for him and India, who are now on the cusp of another semifinal in an ICC white-ball event.

Virat Kohli was setting the tempo. Pakistan had allowed to do so. Though he only hit three of his first 62 balls to the boundary, he already had fifty runs to his name. He knows how to score quickly without looking for big shots. The ball wasn’t stopping on the surface as much under lights. Things were working in his favour again. Virat Kohli almost knew he was going to get a hundred.

He demanded an explanation when Axar turned down a second run off a wide in the 42nd over when it was clear to everybody else that all he was doing was make sure Virat Kohli had the best chance to get to three-figures with time running out. When he did, off the last ball of the match, Virat Kohli looked to the dressing room and literally said “I told you. Relax”. That was how easy this was. That was how inevitable he was.

Presentations and Road Ahead

Mohammed Rizwan the losing Pakistan skipper said : We won the toss, but we didn’t get the benefit of toss. We thought 280 was a good score on this pitch. In middle overs, their bowlers bowled very well and got our wickets. Me and Saud Shakeel, we took time because we wanted to take it deep. After that, wrong, poor shot selection. They put us under pressure and that’s why we were squeezed to 240.

Whenever you lose, it means you didn’t perform in all departments. Early on, we attacked but they attacked more on us. We wanted to squeeze them, but we didn’t. Abrar gave us a wicket but other end they played really well. Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill took the game far away from us. We need to improve in our fielding as well. We did a lot of mistakes in this match and last match well. Hopefully we can work on them.

Rohit Sharma the winning India skipper said : The way we started with the ball was superb. To restrict them to that kind of a score was a great effort from the bowling unit. We knew it gets slightly better to bat under lights, gets slower as well. We wanted to back the experience that we have in our batting line-up to go out there and get those runs. The credit goes to guys like Axar, Kuldeep and Jadeja in the middle there.

They’ve played a lot – this format of cricket and understand what is required out of them. They stitched a very good partnership – Rizwan and Shakeel – so important for us not to let the game drift away. We wanted to stay there as long as possible. The experience comes into play of all these three spinners. Not to forget the way Hardik, Harshit and Shami bowled as well.

If you look at the bowling unit performance, everyone came to the party and did exactly what was required on that pitch. This bunch of boys, we’ve played a lot of cricket together, especially this format and they do understand what kind of job is required out of them. It can be quite tricky at times where some guys will not get to bowl 10 overs because we have six bowlers.

It’s important what is working on particular that day and try and maximise those guys. Axar and Kuldeep stepped up today. In the previous game, it was Jadeja. (On Kohli) He loves representing the country. He wants to be out there playing for the team, doing what he does the best which is to go out there and do what he did today. That’s what he’s known for. Over the years, we’ve seen it with him.

People sitting inside the dressing room are not surprised with what he has done. It was good for him to be out there in the middle, finish the game off and then a couple of crucial knocks from the other guys as well. It (hamstring) is okay at the moment.

Virat Kohli Player of the Match for his majestic 51st 100* said : To be honest, it feels good to be able to bat in that manner in an important game to seal qualification. Feels good to contribute in a game where we lost Rohit early, had to put in the understanding of what we learnt in the last game. My job was to control the middle overs against the spinners without taking too many risks, towards the end Shreyas accelerated and I got a few boundaries as well.

It allowed me to play my usual ODI game. I have a decent understanding of my game, it is about keeping the outside noise away, staying in my space and taking care of my energy levels and thoughts. Very easy to get pulled into the expectations. My job is to stay in the present and do a job for the team. My keynotes to myself are to put my 100% every ball in the field, and then God eventually rewards you.

Having clarity is important, it was important to understand that you need to get runs when there is pace on the ball, otherwise the spinners can dictate things. Shubman did well against Shaheen, took him up. There’s a reason he’s the number one batter of the world. It was necessary to get about 60-70 runs in the powerplay, or we’d always be chasing the game.

And there Shreyas is really coming into his own at number 4. Did well in India, and now out here as well. (On having a week off) To be honest, at 36, it feels really good. Will put my feet up for a few days as it takes a lot out of me to put that kind of effort into every game.

In the biggest match of the year, with his mortality showing more than it ever used to, Virat Kohli proved he’s still got it, that maybe, just maybe, the little he’s lost isn’t going to define him. He ticked off 14,000 runs in ODI cricket, brought up his 51st ODI century, set up India for a semi-final spot and essentially crossed out Pakistan from the 2025 Champions Trophy. The holders and the hosts need other results to go their way to stay alive in the tournament now.

India went into the game as favourites. They were worthy of that seeding, limiting Pakistan to 241 with Hardik Pandya putting in the kind of performance that should make him illegal. An allrounder capable of dismissing the opposition’s best batter, and then coming back to take down their top-scorer, isn’t just a name on the sheet. He is the secret sauce.

And Kuldeep Yadav was the spice. His left-arm wrist spin is so rare and he made it rarer by finding a way to be quick through the air without compromising on turn or accuracy. So that means unless batters pick him out of the hand, they are always going to be guessing. Three Pakistan batters guessed wrong. All three were end-overs wickets. Pakistan were setting up to explode at the death. Kuldeep just wouldn’t let them. The injury hasn’t affected his menace.

Pakistan were able to produce moments. Shaheen Shah Afridi sending down a 143kph inswinging yorker to shatter Rohit Sharma’s stumps. Abrar Ahmed conjuring a carrom ball from hell to get rid of a rampaging Shubman Gill. But when it came to capitalising on them, they just couldn’t.

The result was a world champion side that was renowned for pulling games out of the fire now seems to do the first part right – they definitely got into trouble in Dubai – but the other part, the important part is going so very wrong. Pakistan were 151 for 2 in the 34th over before they were bowled out for 241 with the most inexperienced member of the India side dictating terms, Harshit Rana and his slower balls were just impossible to hit.

A game in an ICC event and a rivalry with history bursting out of it eventually became so one-sided that its last few moments were dominated by an individual pursuit. Axar Patel turned down an easy two so Kohli could pursue his hundred. The crowd in Dubai loved that. There were 12 runs to get for India’s victory and 12 runs to get for their hero’s century and they chanted his name over and over. Pakistan were nowhere to be found. Ever since a collapse of 3 for 11 in 19 balls, this game turned pear-shaped for them.

Clinical performance from India! Firstly, it was a very good bowling performance from the Indians. While Shami struggled a bit with control in the opening spell, Hardik bowled a superb 6-over spell in which he removed Babar Azam. Rizwan and Shakeel stitched a century partnership for the third wicket but they were very cautious against some disciplined bowling. Both of them were dropped but they couldn’t capitalise and Pakistan lost three quick wickets.

And, Kuldeep’s spell in the last 10 overs where he picked three wickets didn’t allow Pakistan to accelerate. In reply, Rohit came out all guns blazing but his innings was cut short by a Shaheen Afridi yorker. Shubman Gill was watchful in the following over but went after the left-arm pacer with a flurry of eye-pleasing boundaries.

India raced away to 64/1 at the end of the first powerplay. Haris Rauf bowled a good first over and induced a couple of false strokes. While Virat Kohli’s top-edge fell short of third man, Gill was dropped on 35 by Khushdil at midwicket. Rauf leaked 14 runs off his second over, thanks to Virat Kohli’s two cover drives who also crossed 14k runs in ODIs. And that was the beginning of a special knock from the chase master.

Rizwan had to turn to spin and the scoring rate dipped a bit with Abrar Ahmed castling Gill with a beauty. At 100/2, Shreyas Iyer joined Virat Kohli and the duo forged a century partnership that extinguished Pakistan’s hopes. While Kohli was ticking along nicely, Shreyas was unusually slow (17 off 34 at one stage). But at no point, but at no stage did they allow Pakistan to apply pressure on them. They batted with minimum risks and once the target came under 100, the runs came at a quick pace.

Shreyas made up for his slow start and notched up a half-ton. Post that, the only question was if Virat Kohli could get to his century and King Kohli paced it perfectly to reach the landmark by hitting the winning runs. 51st ODI ton and 4th against Pakistan! He just loves to play against this team.

Pakistan were left to comprehend the very real possibility of eviction from their own party as India clinically dispatched them off in the Champions Trophy 2025 clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Every Indian bowler played his part as the defending champions were restricted to a sub-par score of 241, which was then overhauled comfortably as Virat Kohli led the way with a masterful unbeaten hundred – his 51st in the format.

India-Pakistan contests – without factoring in for the tournament context – often tend to be a contest as much of mental fortitude as of cricketing skills. For a good part of the last decade and a half, India have been superior on both counts and so it proved to be as the two teams began reading from a very familiar script.

Pakistan did win what seemed an important toss given the expected nature of the Dubai pitch – slow and low – but their batters veered the extremes between trying too hard or not trying hard enough and imploded to waste what was a much better PowerPlay than the one they’d produced four nights ago in Karachi.

India on the other hand, did what they do well in these contests – do the small things well and let the opposition work themselves into a frenzy. They were there to accept every opportunity that Pakistan presented and by the end, the gulf between the sides in a contest of this length was very apparent.

Two wins in two matches for India and they have one foot in the semifinal. They’ve ticked a lot of boxes in these two wins. Rohit has employed six bowlers in both the matches and they’ve done a superb job in restricting the opposition to below-par scores. There’s loads of experience and class in the batting department.

Gill scored a fantastic century against Bangladesh and Kohli was almost flawless today. One could see the hunger in his eyes when he walked out to bat and his template was perfect to hunt down the total. On the other hand, two defeats in as many matches for Pakistan who hardly found any momentum in this encounter. The hosts, who are also the defending champions, are on the brink of elimination.

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