Kohli’s hundred was filled with some drama. When he was nearing his three-digit mark, India didn’t had too many runs left as it was touch-and-go. Hardik Pandya came out with a strong intent, however, he was dismissed for 8. With four runs required for Kohli’s hundred and two for India’s win, the maestro batter punched one towards covers to get to his century and take India home with six wickets in hand and 45 balls to go.
Kohli mastered the 242-run chase against Pakistan. He held one end up extremely well to power the chase. He stitched a 69-run stand with Shubman Gill for the second before, before notching up a 114-run stand with Shreyas Iyer for the fourth wicket. India suffered a few blows but reached home comfortably in the end with six wickets in hand.
The Men in Green handed a target of 242 runs to India in the high-octane clash in Dubai. The Men in Green are almost in a must-win situation as a loss to India will all but knock them out of the tournament.
Meanwhile, India had an unbeaten record against Pakistan in Champions Trophy history, before their defeat in the 2017 final. Ahead of facing them again, the form of certain players is a bit worrying. Virat Kohli hasn’t been in good form lately, while Hardik Pandya needs to be more consistent. Mohammed Shami had a rough time since his comeback but picked up a five-wicket haul in the last game.
India Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh
Pakistan Squad: Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed, Kamran Ghulam, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Hasnain, Usman Khan
