Virat Kohli lived up to his tag as the chase master, hunting down a target of 242-run set by Pakistan to give India a famous win and all but secure the team’s passage to the semi-final of the Champions Trophy.
Kohli rekindled his love of scoring runs against Pakistan, completing his 51st ODI and 82nd international century, remaining unbeaten on 100 and scoring the winning runs. However, it almost didn’t happen.
With India closing in on the win, Kohli found himself in a race against time to get his century for two reasons. The first was the arrival of Hardik Pandya, who struck two fours in two balls to bring down the runs needed for India. Second was the 42nd over bowled by pacer Shaheen Afridi.
Heading into the over, Kohli was batting on 87, with India needing 17 to win. Axar Patel, the other unbeaten batter’s plan was simple: Give Kohli most of the strike and ensure the batter deserved his hundred. But Shaheen bowled three wides in four balls to cop flak from the crowd. Shaheen strayed in line, coupled by an error of judgment from Axar, led to a stare from Kohli. The ball had flown down the leg-side with the captain and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan getting a hand to it. Axar thought the ball was rolling towards the boundary and didn’t run. However, it was only upon realising that the ball didn’t have enough pace that Axar scampered for the single.
With Kohli on strike, Afridi bowled outside off-stump and, two balls later, bowled a slower bouncer, which was given as another wide by the umpire. With three wides in the over, the equation boiled down to five runs needed with Kohli on 94. But the Dubai crowd burst into ‘loser’ chants, believing that Shaheen was intentionally giving away extras to deny Kohli his hundred. Fans on X echoed the sentiments of The Dubai crowd. Here are some posts.
Thankfully, for Kohli and his legion of fans, his greatness came through. With only three runs needed to win and him batting on 96, Kohli cracked Khushdil Shah through the off-side to bring up his century. Indian batters being denied centuries is not a new concept. The most common instance was former Sri Lanka spinner Suraj Randiv overstepping when Virender Sehwag was batting on 99. Sehwag carted the delivery for six, but since it was a no-ball, India won the game then and there, nullifying Sehwag’s century.
