Earlier Virat Kohli – KL Rahul centuries and then Kuldeep Yadav’s fifer got India a record 228 runs victory over Pakistan. A full dominance shown by the Indian team.
It was India’s highest victory in terms of runs against Pakistan; earlier it was 140 runs in 2008 in Mirpur.
Virat and Rahul didn’t let any wicket fall for the team and batted till the end. India scored 356/2 in 50 overs and in response Pakistan only managed 128/8 runs in 32 overs. Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah didn’t come to bat as they got injured. Rauf didn’t come from the start while Naseem got injured in the 49th over.
India finished 147/2 yesterday and it stopped due to rain and today they continue from there. Virat Kohli (122 runs) and KL Rahul (111 runs) played throughout the remaining overs. Both of them remained unbeaten yesterday. They added 233 runs for the 3rd wicket and it is also the highest partnership by India against Pakistan.
Kohli slashed his 47th century and also completed his 13000 international ODI runs. Also the fastest player to reach that height. He hit 9 fours and 3 sixes in his innings. In the start he looks a little uncomfortable but as his innings he looks more and more stable.
Rahul makes his comeback after almost 6 months and he announces his presence with a century. A classical comeback knock from his side. Also he completed 2000 international ODI runs. He hit 12 fours and 2 sixes in his innings. He was looking in good touch from the start of the innings.
Shaheen Afridi and Shadab Khan took 1 wicket each.
Pakistan didn’t look comfortable from the start and started losing wickets at regular intervals. Fakhar Zaman (27 runs) was the highest scorer from their side while Agha Salman and Iftikhar Ahmed scored 23 runs. A poor batting performance was shown by the batting unit.
Kuldeep Yadav, the chinaman spun the opposition as he grabbed 5 wickets. His mystical spins confused the batters and he took the advantage. Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur and Hardik Pandya got 1 wicket each.
With this win India climbs the 1st spot in the Super Four with 2 points with a high net run rate (4.560). Whereas Pakistan drops down to 3rd spot with 2 points in 2 matches but having low net run rate (-1.892).
Virat Kohli, India, Player of the Match
“Today KL got a great start and my job was just to rotate strike. I take a lot of pride in trying to push for easy runs. Pushing for a double is as easy as they come. I crossed the 100, there was a bit of respect for that shot. I don’t play shots like that and I looked very bad playing it. Me and KL are both conventional cricketers. We don’t try fancy stuff but we can get a lot of purchase though good cricket shots.
Great partnership and good signs for Indian cricket. Very happy for him to come back to ODI cricket in that manner. But I think I need to play at 3 pm tomorrow. Luckily we are Test players. I have played over 100 Tests so I know how to come back and play the next day. It was really humid out there. A big shout out to the groundsmen from my side. I think they did a fabulous job.”
Babar Azam, Pakistan Captain
“Weather was not in our hands but we tried our best. We were not up to the mark without batting and bowling. They (Indian Openers) had plans for our bowlers and started well and that was followed up by Virat and Rahul. Jasprit and Siraj bowled well in the first 10 overs and swung the ball both ways, but our batting was not up to the mark.”
Rohit Sharma, Indian Captain
“We just wanted to get out of the park, to get some game time. Lot of guys haven’t had that. That could only happen thanks to a great effort from the groundsmen. I know how tough it is to cover and remove covers from the whole ground. On behalf of the entire team, we would like to thank them. Fantastic performance, right from yesterday.
When we started we knew the wicket was good and we had to adjust with the rain. The two experienced guys knew they’d take time to get their eyes in and then we got going. Bumrah swung it both ways and he is working really hard for the last 8-10 months. He is only 27 for him to miss games isn’t ideal but the way he bowled showed what he is all about.
Looking at how we batted, there were lots of positives with the openers and then Virat and KL. Virat’s innings was brilliantly paced. And then KL, at the last minute to get back from injury and play 5 minutes before the toss, we told him to get ready. Shows the mindset of the player.”