Virat Kohli (122 not out) and KL Rahul (111 not out) compiled masterful hundreds while Kuldeep Yadav bagged a five-for as India clinched a morale-boosting 228-run win over Pakistan in their Asia Cup Super Fours game played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Pakistan could muster only a paltry 128 in pursuit of a monstrous 357, with Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf injured and unable to bat.
In what turned out to be a two-day match, India had resumed on 147 for 2 after 24.1 overs. Initially, the pair of Kohli and Rahul looked to get their eye in. The introduction of Iftikhar Ahmed brought about a flurry of boundaries. With Rauf out of the game due to pain in the flank area, Babar Azam had to use Iftikhar for five overs. The part-timer finished with expensive figures of 0 for 52 off 5.4 overs.
It wasn’t just Iftikhar who came in for severe punishment. In the 35th over, Rahul played one of the shots of the match when he whipped Shadab Khan over deep midwicket. Soon, Kohli, his batting partner, completed his fifty. Once he reached the milestone, he pressed the accelerator.
The feature of Kohli’s batting wasn’t just the nine boundaries and three sixes he struck, but the way he ran the opposition ragged with a diet of singles and twos. The humidity levels were touching over 80 per cent, yet Kohli was able to maintain his fitness levels. At the other end, Rahul, in his comeback game, also showed good endurance levels.
Rahul reached the three-figure mark in the 47th over, and soaked in the applause from his teammates in the dressing room. In the very next over, Kohli brought up his 47th ODI ton. He jumped for joy and took his helmet off to celebrate the moment. Kohli also put a stamp on his stunning knock by lofting Faheem Ashraf straight back down the ground off the final ball of the innings.
Unfortunately for Pakistan, their day just got worse as they lost wickets at regular intervals against some incisive Indian bowling. Jasprit Bumrah found appreciable swing from over the wicket while bowling to Imam-ul-Haq. He also produced the finishing touches by shifting round the wicket and forcing Imam to edge an away-swinger to Shubman Gill in the slip cordon.
Babar Azam, the Pakistan mainstay, didn’t last long either as he was castled by a three-quarter-seam ball from Hardik Pandya. The Indian pace bowlers continued to use the little bit of help on offer under lights, with Shardul Thakur inducing Mohammed Rizwan to edge one to the wicketkeeper. Kuldeep Yadav then ran through the middle and lower order and ended up with impressive figures of 5 for 25. For Pakistan, only three batters crossed the 20-run mark.
India would take a lot of positives from the game. At the top of the order, Rohit and Gill played with freedom against Pakistan’s formidable pace attack. Rahul showcased his class and also proved his fitness. All the bowlers looked in good rhythm too.
On a side note, the action wasn’t just restricted to what happened when the two sides took the field. For two days, the ground staff had to fight against nature – rain – to get the ground ready for play. On day one of the game, they were perhaps a tad late in anticipating a thunderstorm. So, it took a little more time to cover the entire ground. By then, quite a few puddles had formed. The umpires were especially concerned with the damp patches around the midwicket area.
When play was set to resume, there was another spell of rain and the game had to be postponed to the reserve day. Even on the reserve day, there was heavy rain before play began. The ground staff, though, had covered the entire ground two to three hours before the start of play. Once India’s innings resumed, barring those brief spells of rain, the angry clouds held off. Perhaps even the rain Gods wished to watch the Rahul-Kohli duet.