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The India vs Pakistan Super 4 clash at the Asia Cup 2023 ended up in the Rohit Sharma-led side’s favour. Indian cricket team ticked all the right boxes both in the batting and the bowling departments. Virat Kohli’s supreme fitness was evident in his 47th ODI century while comeback man KL Rahul produced an equally engaging ton on comeback as India thrashed a listless Pakistan by record 228-run margin in a rain-marred Super Four game of the Asia Cup on Sunday. This is India’s biggest win in terms of runs against the cross-border neighbours.
After the win, Gavaskar blasted the Pakistan batting.
“In cricket, there are no ifs and buts. But the way Pakistan batted today, it seemed India would have been able to defend 266 the other day if the game (1st match) had carried on. You know people, particularly in Pakistan, keep on talking about India having only one or two players. I mean how many players does Pakistan have? Particularly in the batting department. Apart from Babar who do they have?” Sunil Gavaskar questioned on India Today.
“When the bowling team of the opposition sit down and dissects their batting, they would spend a lot of time on how to get Babar out. But I don’t think they would spend half the time on the others. None of them are such that they would scare the bowling group of the opposition team.”
India posted an imposing 356 for 2, as Kohli (122 not out off 94 balls) and Rahul (111 not out off 106 balls), which was his sixth ODI hundred, pummeled a hapless Pakistan, whose chase ended at 128 for 8 as Kuldeep Yadav (5/25) scythed through them.
On the century count in ODIs, Kohli now stands just two behind Sachin Tendulkar’s record 49. Once India restarted the day from 147 for 2 in 24.1 overs, they needed Kohli and Rahul, the two overnight batters, to go big, and they did that in some style.
Along with Rahul, Kohli amassed 233 runs for the unbeaten third wicket stand – the highest ODI partnership for India against Pakistan.
En route to his 77th international century, Kohli also added some personal milestones to an already long list, becoming the fastest batsman to 13000 ODI runs and scoring his fourth ton in as many innings at the R Premadasa Stadium.
Kohli is only the second batter to achieve the feat of scoring four successive hundreds at a venue after South Africa’s Hashim Amla, who made this sequence at Centurion.
However, Rahul’s hundred was equally important from a team’s perspective.
With PTI inputs
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