Indian star batter Virat Kohli opens on team India’s victory against their arch-rival Pakistan in the Super Four round of Asia Cup 2023 played on September 12 at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
Virat on Victory Against Pakistan in Asia Cup 2023
Right after the Pakistan vs India Asia Cup 2023 group match ended with no result, the board decided to add a reserve day for their Grop Four clash on September 10. With rain expected on the game day, ACC allotted the very next day(September 11) as the reserve day for the game.
As expected the Rain intervened the game while India batted 24.1 overs and scored 147 runs for 2 wickets loss. On the reserve day, the game resumed from 24.1 over where Virat and KL Rahul continued to bat.
Virat Kohli once again proved his worth by scoring a century which is also his 77th century in international games.
Speaking on the 228 runs victory, Virat Kohli said “I was going to ask you to keep the interview short, I’m very tired. I’m always prepared to help the team in different ways”.
“Today, KL got a great start and my job was just to rotate strike. I take a lot of pride in trying to push for easy runs, pushing for a double is as easy as they come. (On the reverse ramp boundary) Because I crossed the 100, there was a bit of respect for that shot. I don’t play shots like that and I looked very bad playing it”, Kohli added.
“Me and KL are both conventional cricketers, We don’t try fancy stuff but we can get a lot of purchases through good cricket shots. A great partnership and a good sign for Indian cricket. Very happy for him to come back to ODI cricket in that manner”.
“(On playing again tomorrow) I was pushing for those runs and happy for it, but I was thinking I need to play at 3 pm tomorrow. Luckily, we are Test players, I’ve played over 100 Tests so I know how to come back and play the next day. It was really humid out there, I’m 35 in November so I need to be taking care of that recovery as well (chuckles). A big shout out to the groundsmen from my side, I think they did a fabulous job”, Kohli said.
Speaking on the match winning the toss, Pakistan chose to bowl. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill opened for India while Shaheen Afridi opened the bowling attack. Rohit Sharma had a good start as he scored 56 runs on 49 balls and was sent out by Shadab Khan.
The other opener Shubman Gill who scored 58 runs on 52 deliveries was sent out by Shaheen Afridi. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul scored 8 and 17 runs respectively while the match was interrupted by rain and stopped with India scoring 147 runs losing 2 wickets on the first ball of the 25th over.
The match was then rescheduled to reserve day. Resuming the match, Kohli and KL Rahul had an impressive innings and made a partnership score of 233* runs which is recorded as the highest partnership score in Asia Cup ODI games.
Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 122 runs off 94 deliveries including 9 boundaries and 3 sixes, while KL Rahul had an unbeaten 111 runs on 106 deliveries. At the end of 50 overs, India had scored 356 runs losing 2 wickets.
💯 NUMBER 4️⃣7️⃣
King @imVkohli, take a bow! 🙌😍
Legendary knock by the modern day great. #Pakistan truly gets the best out of the King!Tune-in to #AsiaCupOnStar, LIVE NOW on Star Sports Network#INDvPAK #Cricket pic.twitter.com/7BfKckU1AO
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) September 11, 2023
Pakistan on the other hand made a terrible start where their top-order batters were sent out to the pavilion before crossing a total of 100 runs. Pakistan lost all their 10 wickets for 128 runs and lost the match by 228 runs.
CHECK: Virat Kohli Records, Awards and Achievements – Full List
Kuldeep Yadav bagged his second five-wicket haul by dismissing Fakhar Zaman, Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, and Faheem Ashraf.
India will play their next game of the Asia Cup 2023 Super Four match against Sri Lanka on September 12 at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
