India Eliminates Pakistan As Kohli’s Sensational Ton Seals Victory
India avenged their ICC Champions Trophy 2017 loss by eliminating Pakistan from the 2015 edition. Virat Kohli scored a superb ton handing India a comfortable six-wicket win against the neighbours. Pakistan suffered their second defeat in the group stage, making them the first team to suffer elimination from the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Mohammad Rizwan and his men had to travel to Dubai for this match. They only made one change to the playing 11. Fakhar Zaman, who suffered injury against New Zealand, was replaced by Imam-ul Haq. India chose the same winning combination from the last match.
India: Dot balls build early pressure
Pakistan opted to bat. Babar Azam was under a bit of pressure. He needed a good innings to build back the confidence. Babar was timing the ball well and scored five boundaries. But his innings ended on 23. Babar edged the ball to KL Rahul on Hardik Pandya’s delivery. In the very next over, Axar’s direct hit from the covers sent Imam back to the pavilion. From 41 to no loss in 8.1 overs, Pakistan were 47 for two in 9.2 overs. Saud Shakeel and Rizwan were the next two batters.
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At the end of 20 overs, Pakistan were 79 for two. Their biggest problem was dot balls. Pakistan ended up playing 80 dot balls in the first 120 deliveries. Rizwan was slow to start.
Kuldeep & Co. restrict Pakistan on 241
These two stood at the crease and created a 104-run partnership in 24 overs. The pressure got the better of Rizwan and he was bowled by Axar. He scored 46 runs at a strike rate of 59.74. Shakeel also went for a well-played 62 of 76 balls. Pandya got his second wicket of the night. Tayyab Tahir’s stay was cut short by Jaddu.
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Kuldeep Yadav bowled some googlies and got the dangerous Salman Agha. Khushdil Shah scored 38 towards the end to take Pakistan to a total of 241 runs. Kuldeep took three wickets.
Gill shines but Shaheen ends Rohit’s cameo
Rohit Sharma started brightly with 2-3 good shots. He scored a quickfire 20 off 15 balls. Shaheen Afridi bowled out the Indian captain in the fifth over. Shubman Gill was also timing the ball well. He took charge at Shaheen and took India to 64 for one at the end of the first Power Play.
Kohli scores 51st ODI ton
Virat Kohli joined Gill in the middle. The veteran was looking confident from the start. This duo added 69 for the second wicket. Kohli was on 31 when Gill was bowled by a peach of a delivery by Abrar Ahmed. Gill scored 46 runs.
Shreyas Iyer and Virat created a match-winning partnership of 114 runs for the third wicket. Iyer continued his good form and scored 56 runs. Hardik joined Kohli in the middle. He gave his wicket cheaply on eight runs.
Virat needed to stay on the strike and score majority of the remaining runs to complete his 100. Axar Patel gave a strike to Kohli and his four on the very last ball of the match took him to another milestone. India won with 45 balls remaining.
