India vs Pakistan: Kohli's 51st ODI ton guides India to 6-wicket win

Virat Kohli hit his 51st century in ODIs as India thrashed Pakistan by six wickets in a Group A game of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai on Sunday night (February 23).

Photos from India vs Pakistan match

After restricting Pakistan to 241 all out, Kohli anchored the run chase brilliantly, as he remained unbeaten on 100 (111 balls, 7x4) to seal the victory. India scored 244/4 in 42.3 overs. Kohli was on 96 and India needed just 2 to win, and he hit a boundary off Khushdil Shah to complete his century and take India home.

This was India’s second successive win in the eight-team tournament and have almost guaranteed a spot in the semi-finals as they are on top of the table with four points. Pakistan, with two consecutive losses, are on their way out of the tournament of which they are the hosts.

India's last league game is against New Zealand next Sunday (March 2).

Also read: Kohli breaks Tendulkar's record, completes 14,000 ODI runs

Tricky target

Chasing a tricky 242, India rode on Kohli's century, Shreyas Iyer's classy 67-ball 56, and Shubman Gill's brilliant start of 46 off 52 balls to overhaul the target with more than seven overs to spare.

Kohli rebelled against his own modest recent form and a dangerous opposition to peel off a memorable knock that took 111 balls and was punctuated with seven fours.

Once again, they ran into their old nemesis — Kohli. The 36-year-old had several demons of his own to tame — a lean run, recurring form of dismissals and struggles against spin.

But he slayed each one of them, in a manner befitting a batter who also became the quickest to 14,000 ODI runs during the course of the knock.

Pakistan might have hoped to hustle him a bit through pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf.

But Kohli drove them on the up with elan or pulled them with audacity as Pakistan's premier pacers transformed into dejected figures after the early high of Afridi castling Rohit Sharma (20 off 15 balls) with a peach of a yorker.

Iyer's 103-metre six

Perhaps, the biggest hope Pakistan harboured against Kohli would have been leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed, considering the Indian's recent travails against England's Adil Rashid.

Kohli did have a couple of tough moments against Ahmed but none big enough to put him in distress. He largely dealt with him in singles, cutting down risks.

But the Pakistan quicks offered him enough chances to free his arms.

At the other end, Iyer flowed with a variety of shots but a 103-metre six off spinner Salman Agha was the standout hit during his tenure, in which he assisted Kohli to raise 114 runs for the third wicket.

Iyer had to walk back to the hut after Imam-ul-Haq pulled off a stunner at covers off-spinner Khushdil Shah although replays suggested that the ball might have been grounded.

But by then, India had already shut the door on Pakistan.

Kuldeep takes 3 wickets

Earlier, Indian bowlers were stunningly accurate but Pakistan managed to post a competitive 241 courtesy Saud Shakeel’s polished fifty and Khushdil Shah’s cameo.

Shakeel (62, 76b, 5x4) was largely fluent and added 104 runs for the third wicket with skipper Mohammad Rizwan (46), but Pakistan never really managed to break the shackles after opting to bat.

The pitch expectedly grew slow once the match entered the middle passage, and the precision of Indian bowlers made the run-making a laboured task with left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep led the way (3/40).

Boundaries dry up

There was a period in Pakistan innings when both Rizwan and Shakeel failed to find the boundary rope for 55 consecutive deliveries.

However, they were also forced to traverse a cautious path because of the early departure of Babar Azam (23) and Imam-ul-Haq (10).

Azam looked million dollars while playing those trademark cover drives for a few boundaries off Harshit Rana and Hardik Pandya.

But that desire to drive brought his doom as well. Pandya immediately pulled the length back after getting driven for a four and Azam’s full-throttle shot took an edge en route to KL Rahul’s big gloves.

Soon, Imam took off for a non-existent single and Axar Patel at mid-on just had to hit the stumps, a task he accomplished without any ado.

Injury scare for Shami, Rohit

At 47 for two, Pakistan had their task cut out in a high-pressure match but Rizwan and Shakeel brought some stability to their innings with composed knocks.

India also had a couple of worrying points at this stage as veteran pacer Mohammed Shami and skipper Rohit had to stay off the field for some time.

Shami had to tend to his shin while Rohit looked in some discomfort primarily because of the heat here. However, both of them returned to the field to allay the concerns.

Amidst all this, Rizwan and Shakeel took Pakistan to 151 for two in the 34th over, and it was a burgeoning platform for them to aim for a total in the vicinity of 300.

Khushdil’s big shots at the end

But Rizwan’s adventurous shimmy down the track against Axar saw him losing the stumps, and from thereon Pakistan went on a downward spiral.

Shakeel, who played the pull with some conviction, perished to the same shot against Pandya, skying a simple catch to Axar in the deep.

Thereon, Salman Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah fell to Kuldeep’s guile as India tightened their grip.

Khushdil (38, 39 balls) played a couple of big shots, including the first six of Pakistan innings, that helped his side reach a healthy total in challenging batting conditions.

(With agency inputs)