Kohli's majestic unbeaten century was the backbone of India's six-wicket victory over Pakistan in the Champions Trophy
Virat Kohli (Pic: AFP)
Virat Kohli provides unmatched stability to the Indian team that continues to haunt Pakistan, according to former India cricketer Jatin Paranjape, who felt the superstar batter displayed exceptional composure under pressure during his century against Pakistan.
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Kohli's majestic unbeaten century was the backbone of India's six-wicket victory over Pakistan in the Champions Trophy.
Paranjape was effusive in his praise for centurion Kohli and others. "Kohli was magical and maneuvered the team home like the great champion that he is. Pakistan continues to be haunted by him. With the ball Hardik, Harshit, Jadeja, Axar and Kuldeep were supers in the way they took the pace off the deliveries by reading the pitch to a nicety. Hardik especially was great through the spells that he bowled. It was good to see him backing the natural outswinger that he has and he got the all important wicket of Babar Azam, who looked in sublime touch. With the bat Rohit Sharma looked in a superb mental space and batting touch. Shreyas Iyer also looked in great touch and the ball was pinging off the bat," he told mid-day.
After India's bowlers restricted Pakistan to an underwhelming 241, Kohli stitched match-winning partnerships with Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill to chase down the target with 45 balls to spare.
Pakistan was off to a fine start, with Babar Azam (23 in 26 balls, with five fours) unleashing some fine drives in the 41-run opening partnership. After two quick wickets, Pakistan was 47/2.
Skipper Mohammed Rizwan (46 in 77 balls, with three fours) and Saud Shakeel (62 in 76 balls, with five fours) had a 104-run partnership, but they took up a lot of deliveries. After the end of this partnership, Khushdil Shah (38 in 39 balls, with two sixes) did put up a fight with Salman Agha (19) and Naseem Shah (14), but they were bundled out for 241 runs in 49.4 overs.
Chasing 242 runs, India lost skipper Rohit Sharma (20 in 15 balls, with three fours and a six) early. Then the 69-run stand between Shubman Gill (46 in 52 balls, with seven fours) and Virat Kohli (100* in 111 balls, with seven fours) and a 114-run stand between Virat and Iyer (56 in 67 balls, with five fours and a six) helped India secure an easy four-wicket win with six wickets and 45 balls to spare.
(With agency inputs)
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