IND vs PAK: Virat Kohli Scores 82nd Century, India Storm Into Champions Trophy Semi-Final

Kohli hit the winning runs, and got to his century as well! With plenty of smiles in the Indian camp, Kohli shimmied down the track and slammed the length ball wide of extra cover to find a boundary and complete his 51st ODI and 82nd international cricket century. Kohli raised his bat in celebration and cheers were all across the Dubai Cricket Stadium. This was his first century in the Champions Trophy and what time and opposition to find it - India taking on Pakistan in the Champions Trophy match.

He had a laugh and a hug with Rohit Sharma and said thank you to the camera before raising his bat to the crowd and walking up the stairs. He became the first batter to score a century against Pakistan in the World Cup, Asia Cup and Champions Trophy.

Shreyas Iyer, who completed his 21st ODI fifty, departs on a well-made 56 against the run of play after Imam Ul Haq picks up a stunner. Khushdil Shah picked up his first wicket, but it's too late now. Iyer was followed by Hardik Pandya, who got out on 8 runs off 6 balls to Shaheen Shah Afridi, who picked up his second wicket of the match.

Virat Kohli has regained his form and the right-handed batter scored fifty against arch-rivals Pakistan. While Kohli is now anchoring the run chase, Iyer is supporting him from the other end.

Abrar Ahmed bowled a brilliant leg-spin delivery to stun Shubman Gill and beat him all hands up. The leggie bowled a delivery into the stumps and turned away sharply to hit the top of the off-stump. Gill was clueless on the occasion and Kohli was also impressed with the dismissal.

Both the batters are playing some brilliant drives to steer the scoreboard. While Kohli is on his way to regain his form, Gill is continuing his incredible strokeplay from the last fixture to find boundaries every now and then. India now require 143 runs from 33 overs.

Ace India batter Virat Kohli reached the landmark of 14000 ODI runs with a classic cover drive against Haris Rauf. The right-arm pacer bowled a full-length delivery outside off and Kohli pierced the gap between mid-off and extra cover to guide the ball towards the boundary fence. He is looking good touch today middling most of the deliveries.

Shubman Gill has played some classic shots including a straight drive for four off Shaheen Afridi. He doesn't let it go too far forward, not allowing the bowlers to hit his pads in front of the stump. He has been handling Shaheen's inswinging deliveries with ease. He has hit seven boundaries in his run-a-ball 35 and helped India score runs at an impressive run rate of 6.4.

Rohit Sharma continues to display the same intent that he showed in the previous game and ODI World Cup 2023. He comes on the crease and smashes almost everything out of the park that comes his way. With the first in the innings, Rohit Sharma became the fastest opener in the world to score 9,000 runs in ODI cricket. He first played the upper cut to get a boundary and then pulled one over mid-wicket for a six. Gill followed suit, scoring two fours in the same over bowled by Shaheen Shah Afridi and continued it against Naseem Shah.

However, Shaheen Shah Afridi had the last laugh as he removed India skipper Rohit Sharma with a brilliant 143 kph inswinging yorker. India are now 31/1 after 5 overs and Virat Kohli has walked into the middle. He needs only 15 runs to become the fastest batter to score 14,000 runs in ODI cricket.

Pakistan didn't go anywhere and kept losing wickets. Kuldeep Yadav picked up his third wicket of the match as he removed Naseem Shah. Shah gave a sitter to Virat Kohli at long-on, who completed the catch quite comfortably and became the Indian with the most catches in ODI cricket. Khushdil and Haris Rauf smashed a six each in the 48th over bowled by Shami and saw themselves touching the 240-run mark. Harshit Rana then finished things off as he removed Khushdil Shah in the final over of the innings. Pakistan post 241-run on the board. India need 242 runs to seal their spot in the Champions Trophy semifinal.

Most catches as a fielder for India (ODI)
157 Virat Kohli *
156 Mohd Azharuddin
140 Sachin Tendulkar
124 Rahul Dravid
102 Suresh Raina
Only Mahela Jayawardene (218) and Ricky Ponting (160) has taken more outfield catches across all teams.

The script repeats for Pakistan! They lost 5 wickets inside 102 runs and 13 overs (from 30.4 to 43.4) in the last game against New Zealand and now they have been reduced to 200/7 from 151/2 within 9.3 overs (from 33.2 to 42.5 overs) vs India. Both incidents occurred after they lost a couple of wickets inside the powerplay in both games. Kuldeep Yadav struck twice in two balls of his eighth over of the innings.

Khushdil Shah is showing some intent from one end, but no one is supporting him from the other end. He struck a six against Axar Patel in the 42nd over and then found bowlers at the end within a blink of an eye.

Pakistan have lost 3 for 11 in 19 balls between the 34th and 37th overs. Ravindra Jadeja has joined the party as he dismissed Tayyab Tahir to pick his first wicket of the ongoing tournament. They have lost three wickets all of a sudden as Pakistan faces yet another batting collapse. India have regained momentum at the very right time as they managed to put breaks on the flow of runs they have managed only 23 runs in the last five overs at the cost of three wickets including two set batters in the likes of Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel.

Rohit has every bowler's over remaining going into the final 10. Will they be able to restrict Pakistan under the 250-run mark or Pakistan can produce something exceptional and post a competitive total?

Rizwan and Shakeel have recovered Pakistan from an early loss of wickets as they stitched a slow but steady 100-run partnership and are now showing some intent to score some runs quickly after setting their eye in. Shakeel brought up his fourth ODI fifty as well and it came off 63 balls, Rizwan's strike rate is still under 60 though.

Axar Patel provided India with a much-needed breakthrough as he removed Rizwan for 46 runs. Notably, this is the first wicket for India in the middle overs in the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025 as they went wicketless in the previous game against Bangladesh. Could have been two wickets - Shakeel's too - in the over had Kuldeep been able to take a catch running in at long-on.

However, Shakeel didn't let India wait much as he threw his wickets in the very next over bowled Hardik Pandya, playing a pull shot straight into the hands of Axar Patel standing at mid-wicket. All the hard work done by both batters went in vain as Pakistan found themselves in trouble again. Nine Wickets for Hardik Pandya against Pakistan in ICC ODI events, joint-most with Courtney Walsh and Ashish Nehra.

Meanwhile, MS Dhoni watches the high-profile clash between India and Pakistan with Gadar and Border movies fame Sunny Deol.

India have done well in not giving up freebees to the Pakistani batters, but they are yet to pick a wicket in the middle over in the ongoing Champions Trophy. Slow and steady partnership which is now worth 90 runs. They've shown some urgency in the last 8 overs. Pakistan batters have also started showcasing the intent, with Rizwan bringing his favourite sweep shot and Shakeel hitting a couple of boundaries against Kuldeep. They have added 30 runs to their total in their last 5 overs.

India have not been able to pick up any wickets in the middle overs of this Champions Trophy. That's 48 overs and counting...

vs Ban: 0 for 123 between 11 and 40
vs Pak: 0 for 77 between 11 and 30

Mohammed Rizwan and Saud Shakeel have been slow in their innings as they collected only 4 runs per over in the last five overs. Rizwan is 24 off 50 and he gets to a run every two balls only after scoring just his second boundary of the innings. It matches the fewest runs he's scored off the first 50 balls in ODI cricket. At the other end though, Saud Shakeel is starting to show a little enterprise. However, the intent of scoring is still missing from both batters.

India are catching up on their over-rate - catching up by the minute because a minute ago the big screen at the ground said 12 minutes behind but now it says 8 minutes behind, thanks to Jadeja, who completed his couple of overs within a blink of an eye

Skipper Rohit Sharma keeps the pacer from one side and the spinner on the other as Pakistan slow down after a couple of early wickets. Pakistan's run rate has come down from 5.2 in the first 10 overs to 2.7 in the next 10 as they managed 27 runs. After getting off the mark with a boundary, Rizwan has taken 34 balls to score his next 10 runs. Both the batters have struggled to time the balls. India has also been good, denying him spinners to face. All-rounder Hardik Pandya has bowled six overs in his first spell, the most consecutive overs by him in ODis since the 2017 Champions Trophy final. However, 4 off first 20 overs being bowled by pacers, India lagging behind in the over rate, according to the broadcast.

After Babar's dismissal, Imam also walked back to the pavilion as he got run out thanks to a direct hit by Axar Patel. Hardik Pandya is bowling an impressive spell of fast bowling and the return of Mohammed Shami also put India in a strong position as he unleashed his better version as compared to the first spell bowling much quicker deliveries. The Pakistan duo of Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan will have the responsibility to steady the innings but the pressure is increasing with the number of dot balls played by them. It has been 32 balls since Pakistan hit their last boundary.

Harshit Rana also bowled another good over but Mohammad Shami left the field after an issue with his right ankle. Hardik Pandya was introduced into the attack and delivered a breakthrough for India in the ninth over with the prized scalp of Babar Azam. Harshit Rana was stopped from his spell and Axar Patel also started his spell.

Mohammad Shami started the innings with five wides in the first over. Babar Azam produced two classic strokes in the fourth over against Harshit Rana. Playing a classic flick of the wrists and a brilliant cover drive. After struggling to find his rhythm in his first two overs, Shami troubled the batters with a slight seam movement in his third over.

However, Shami leaves the field after pain in his right ankle so Hardik Pandya will be introduced in the bowling attack now.

Notably, Five wides by Mohammed Shami in the first over is the most in the first over of an innings in the Champions Trophy behind seven by Tinashe Panyangara against England in Birmingham in 2004.

Pakistan captain Mohammed Rizwan won the toss and opted to bat. The team brought in Imam-ul-Haq in place of Fakhar Zaman who is ruled out of the tournament due to an injury. India is playing with an unchanged XI from their previous match against Bangladesh.