Former Indian captain Virat Kohli scored a century against arch rival Pakistan in the second group game of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, decimating the opponents’ target of 242.
With this innings, Kohli ended the looming questions about his struggles in the format, after scoring 22 runs in the last game against Bangladesh.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma was all praises for his colleague in the post-match presentation ceremony. “Virat loves representing the country and wants to be out there playing for the team, doing what he does best. Over the years, we’ve seen this, and those in the dressing room aren’t surprised by his performance. It was good for him to finish the game, with a couple of crucial contributions from others,” said Rohit.
Coming at number three, Kohli scored 100 runs off 111 balls scoring his 82nd career century and 51st century in the One Day Internationals. He also became the fastest-ever batter in the world to reach the 14,000 runs mark. He breached the mark in his 287th inning passing the previous record of Sachin Tendulkar who did in 356th inning.
Talking about his innings, Virat said, “To be honest, it feels good to be able to bat in that manner in an important game to seal qualification. My job was to control the middle overs against the spinners without taking too many risks, towards the end Shreyas accelerated and I got a few boundaries as well. It allowed me to play my usual ODI game.”
In an innings decorated with seven fours, Kohli started slowly but soon took on Haris Rauf dishing a couple of exotic cover drives.
Despite struggling against spinners, Kohli kept grinding and scored the winning runs to steer India to another win against Pakistan. This was Kohli’s first-ever century in the Champions Trophy and also became the first batter to score an ODI century against Pakistan in the World Cup, Champions Trophy and Asia Cup.
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Kohli will look to continue his form against New Zealand in the final group game scheduled on 02nd March 2025.
