Ton-Up Kohli Leads India to Victory Over Pakistan in Champions Trophy

In Dubai, the cavalry unit of the Dubai police was summoned to manage the crowd at the eagerly anticipated Champions Trophy match between India and Pakistan. Despite the stadium being only half full when the first ball was bowled on Sunday afternoon, the stands quickly filled up as the match progressed. As the lights came on, the predominantly Indian spectators were treated to a spectacular display from their batters, outshining Pakistan once again in an ICC world event.

Led by Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 100 (111b, 7x4), India chased down 241 in 42.3 overs, taking their ICC ODI events head-to-head record with Pakistan to 11-3. It also gave a big fillip to their semi-final hopes. A New Zealand win against Bangladesh on Monday will see them through.

It proved to be another hyped up India-Pakistan encounter watched by film stars, dignitaries and many of India’s young T20 team members. But it failed to live up to the billing. Hosts Pakistan’s second successive loss in the competition has left them staring at the exit door.

Towards the back end of India’s run chase, the only point of interest was whether Kohli would get to a century. Hardik Pandya’s late flourish only annoyed the crowd. All they wanted was to watch Kohli complete his 51st ODI ton. When he lofted Khushdil Shah over extra cover for the winning boundary, their wishes were answered. Kohli removed his helmet flap, raised his bat, closed his eyes and thanked the heavens.

Nothing awakens Kohli’s senses more than a battle against Pakistan. He kept his cool against Abrar Ahmed, aware that Pakistan’s only specialist spinner was also their biggest weapon. Off the pacers, this time he had no difficulty. Somewhere amidst his fluid stroke play, Kohli punched Haris Rauf through covers to bring up his 14,000 ODI runs. A little reminder to his critics not to get caught up in judging his form by mixing up formats.

Rohit Sharma was circumspect in the first over. That’s all the patience he thinks is worth showing, what with the ultra-aggressive approach he has embraced in white-ball cricket. Cameos can have an impact in a low-scoring game. In a pressure match, a quick start takes the pressure off the batters to follow. With that in mind, Rohit went swinging in Naseem Shah’s first over. He couldn’t execute the pull. It went flying over slips for four. The next ball, the bowler missed his length and Rohit helped it over square leg for six.

Rohit kept upping the ante. Some use of the feet or hitting through the line, he was going to dominate the bowlers. Shaheen Shah Afridi though had been working to try and york Rohit. He succeeded in his third attempt in the third over with a rapid in-swinging yorker that gave the India captain no chance.

Rohit’s 15-ball 20 wasn’t too many runs, but he had taken care of the Naseem Shah threat. Shubman Gill at the other end was taking Afridi on. A short-arm pull, cover drive and a chancy flick in fast bowler’s fourth over all produced boundaries. In Afridi’s next over, Gill stroked some more silken fours – a drive through covers and another over the bowler’s head. After 10 overs, India was coasting at six runs per over with the superstar-in-the-making on the move, even as the bona fide star Kohli was only warming up. After Gill (46- 52b, 7x4) exited the stage, cleaned up by mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed’s carrom ball, Kohli took charge.

Pakistan had come loaded with their pace armoury. Rauf attempted to bounce out Shreyas Iyer. Not with the same purpose as Wahab Riaz against Shane Watson, and Iyer had come fully equipped. Iyer saw his burst through and brought out the reverse sweep against Pakistan’s part-time spin.

Once the ball lost its shine, the pacers struggled to make any impact. Abrar’s first spell (7-0-17-1) was impressive. But then he could only bowl 10 overs. India played him out. It didn’t help that Pakistan couldn’t summon their best fielding day either. Two dropped catches meant it wasn’t long before what could have been a fighting target began to look comfortably short.

For Pakistan, losing three wickets in the span of four overs between overs 32-36 negated all the hard work done in the 104-run Saud Shakeel-Mohammed Rizwan third wicket partnership. The wickets also wiped out any hope Pakistan had of mounting a big total.

With half the batting to come, it wouldn’t be a signal for most teams to go slow, but a lack of batting depth and limited big-hitting options in the lower order meant Pakistan’s priority was to delay the slog. They almost managed to bat out the overs – bowled out for 241 in 49.4 overs – but were never able to change gears. Kuldeep Yadav (9-0-40-3) was India’s leading wicket-taker while Hardik Pandya provided crucial breakthroughs.

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