PAKISTAN VS INDIA , 5TH MATCH , ICC CHAMPION TROPHY 2025 : Virat’s 51st ODI Century Illuminates India’s Domination Over Pakistan.
Due to Virat Kohli’s walkout, the crowd in Dubai as well as on television were enthralled, as India defeated Pakistan by 6 wickets with Kohli hitting his 51st ODI Ton. India chased down 242 comfortably, doing it with 7.3 overs to spare, almost assuring themselves of qualification to the Champions Trophy 2025 semi-finals. Pakistan are looking at elimination. Pakistan’s total of 241 was far too little as Kohli (100\*), Shreyas Iyer (56) and Shubman Gill (46) took charge of the run chase. Kuldeep Yadav was the star with the ball, taking 3/40. With the victory, India remained unbeaten in the ODI format against their arch-rivals Pakistan since the 2017 final of the Champions Trophy, with their record of 6-0 since that game. Virat’s 51st ODI Century Illuminates India’s Domination Over Pakistan.
TOSS-
Pakistan would bat first as they won the toss .
TEAMS LINE UP-
PAKISTAN XI-
Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
INDIA XI-
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav
PAKISTAN-
Pakistan availed itself of Hardik Pandya, who provided a breakthrough on demand, inducing Babar’s false drive to a ball too full to be driven. It was another unforced error by Pakistan after the 41-run opening stand, with the reinstituted Imam-ul-Haq walking for a non-existing single and being caught short at the non-striker’s end by an Axar Patel direct hit.
Pakistan reached 52 more in the Power Play, but India’s altered lengths quickly have scoring a near-screeching halt. The next 10 overs produced only 27 runs as the batters found only enough gaps to remain on the attack as they attempted to force pacers with decreased speeds. There were 95 dot balls up to the 25th over by which time the pair had at last attempted to break free. It was only when India paired up two spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja, that the attack finally came. Rizwan swept Jadeja for a boundary, and Shakeel swept and reverse-swept Kuldeep for two four in the next over.
Gradually, but surely, the partnership crossed the 100-run barrier and Shakeel registered a solid half-century off 63 balls. But just when it was the time to hit the accelerator, Pakistan was jolted by the dismissals of both the set batters. Rizwan survived when Harshit Rana put down a difficult chance off a Hardik, but India’s long drought with middle-overs wickets ended in the next over itself when the Pakistan captain charged at Axar only to get yorked on off stump. Axar might have had Shakeel too in the same over but Kuldeep dropped a difficult chance running in from long-on. But even that error didn’t much hurt as Hardik got the half-centurion with a short ball in the very next over.
Just like in their 2023 World Cup meeting, Pakistan threw away a very similar position of power. They slipped from 151/2 to 3 for 14 when Jadeja spun one between Tayyab Tahir’s defences. Khushdil Shah and Salman Ali Agha seemed to be quelling the rot with a brisk 35-run standm but, once more, when they got to 200, when Pakistan were set to push on, Kuldeep pulled off a double-wicket 43rd over against batters who were having difficulty picking him up off the hand.
First, Agha fell attempting to swipe over the rope but could manage only a leading edge to point. The very next ball, Kuldeep trapped Shaheen Afridi in front of the stumps with a googly. Batsman Khushdil (38 off 39) hit two sixes in an over from Shami before he was the last batsman dismissed with two balls still remaining in the innings.
INDIA-
India made adjustments early with the ball, Pakistan were left guilty of not doing so when it was their turn under the lights. Shaheen Afridi, in particular, bowled too full as one sensational inswinging yorker uprooted Rohit Sharma’s middle-stump though. The Indian captain had darted to 20 off 15 before he fell but Shubman Gill ensured the momentum did not dip by attacking Shaheen and even stepping out, when not afraid to drive the left-arm seamer in the ‘v’.
By that point at the end of the PowerPlay, they had withered 64 runs off the target, forcing Kohli into a rhythm that is now a third of his 17-year-long ODI career. He started with a couple of check-driven fours off Haris Rauf, one of which brought him past 14000 ODI runs – the quickest to do so. Once the spinners hit the ground, he started building his innings with an end-to-end strike rotation. His partnership of 69 with Gill was broken when Abrar Ahmed turned a ball past the Indian vicecaptain and bowled him, four short of another halfcentury. It was preceded by a sedate scoring period when Shreyas Iyer took his time to settle.
By this stage India were so far ahead in the game they were never going to be pushed into panic. As soon as Shaheen and Naseem returned to the attacks, Kohli also made sure to take them along with boundaries early in their over. Iyer, who was 17 off 34 at this stage, took address and had a productive spell against Khushdil, sweeping and reverse-sweeping for fours, and was reprieved on the way when Saud Shakeel dropped a trickle chance at mid-wicket.
It was smooth sailing from there even as Iyer (56 off 67) and Hardik perished. The only story left to tell was whether Kohli would reach a hundred. He reached that milestone by hitting his 111th ball for a four with two runs needed for victory. It came too easy for him — and now India, who find themselves on the brink of another semifinal in an ICC white ball event.
SCORECARD-
Pakistan 241 in 49.4 overs (Saud Shakeel 62, Mohammad Rizwan 46; Kuldeep Yadav 3-40, Hardik Pandya 2-31) lost to India 244/4 in 42.3 overs (Virat Kohli 100\*, Shreyas Iyer 56; Shaheen Afridi 2-74) by six wickets.