India shocks the world with big result in ICC Champions Trophy
by Steve Ashfield | by Cydias Aujard
Vital game for both countries
The match was played at the Dubai International Stadium on a rather slow track that made batting difficult at times. Well, difficult unless your name was Virat Kohli of course.
India had beaten Bangladesh in their opening ICC Champions Trophy group match. Pakistan meanwhile had been beaten by New Zealand, so the pressure was on them. Stay up-to-date with our ICC Champions Trophy predictions to find out more about the upcoming matches and the stats you need to know!
It was Pakistan who won the toss and elected to bat first. They got off to a good start with Imam-ul Haq and Babar Azam putting on 41 for the opening wicket but it took them 8.2 overs. Two quick wickets put India further in control as Pakistan slipped to 47-2.
India keep the run-rate down
There was to be no collapse though as Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan put on 104 for the third wicket. Again, the run rate was nothing to cause too much concern for India with the partnership lasting 24 overs. Rizwan scored 46 but they took him 77 balls to compile.
Shakeel was out for 62 (scored off 76 deliveries) just ten balls later. When Tayyab fell in the 36th over, India had reduced Pakistan to 165-5. Khushdi Shah did his best for Pakistan with 38 in 39 balls, but they were finally dismissed for 241. That was 17 runs below the average score made by teams who batted first at that ground and won the match.
After his 5-58 against Bangladesh, Shami was wicketless this time. India’s best bowler was Kuldeep Yadav with 3-40. In terms of containment, Hardik Pandya excelled with 2-31 from his eight overs.
India made a brisk start with 31 runs coming from the first 29 balls before Rohit Sharma lost his middle stump to the pace of Shaheen Afridi. That brought Virat Kohli to the crease, and he soon set a major achievement. When reaching 15, he reached 14,000 ODI runs, becoming only the second Indian and third player overall to reach that milestone.
Kohli and Iyer pile on the runs
Kohli and Gill put on 69 before the latter was dismissed. India never looked in any danger of not winning this match. A partnership of 114 between Kohli and Iyer in just under 21 overs took India to 214-2 before Iyer was dismissed for 56.
Only 28 runs were needed from 67 balls and even though Pandya was out in the next over, India were never in danger.
The big question now was if Kohli could finally score his first ICC Trophy century. He managed to do just that, scoring exactly 100 not out. The four that took him to his century also gave his team a six-wicket win with 45 balls to spare.
India will qualify for the knockout stages if New Zealand win their next match against Bangladesh. In this form, they look in a good position to win a third ICC Champions Trophy.
