ASIA CUP 2023 : IND v PAK : Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav shine as India script record victory over Pakistan

Colombo : India with the help of tons of Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and 5 wickets haul from Kuldeep Yadav dominate Pakistan with a record margin of 228 runs in an all important though rain affected Super 4 Asia Cup clash at Premadasa Stadium , Colombo.

Defending a huge total of 357 runs, Indian pacers raged fire in their spell, with Jasprit Bumrah picking up Imam-ul-Haq early, the pacers kept Batsman under pressure, soon after the powerplay was over, Hardik Pandya took the massive wicket of Babar Azam with a jaffer inswinger, cleaning his stumps, soon rain interrupted for hours, after the restart it was a show played by Kuldeep Yadav as he trapped Pakistan middle order in his spin web, picking a crucial 5-fer , and restricting Pakistan at 128 runs.

Being put to Bat first, Indian openers Skipper Rohit Sharma and youngster Shubman Gill went off to a flying start , scoring at fast rate, attacking the Pakistani pacers and built up a stand of 121 runs, but the joy was short lived as both the openers fell prey of Shadab Khan and Shaheen Afridi respectively. The uninvited guest – heavy rain interrupted soon after the arrival of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, who came back after recovering from injury after 6 months gap at the crease, and the match couldn’t be continued on the day, as a result of which it was shifted to the reserve day.

The start of the reserve day was interrupted due to heavy rain by an hour, however, after the start of the play, Kohli and Rahul focused not only on big shorts but also converting runs by quick running between the wickets. They began to play aggressively after scoring their 50s and looked well set at the crease, at the beginning they targeted spinners – Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab but later they attacked the pacers too. The duo became beasts in the last 10 overs , adding 105 runs and building a stand of 233 runs, the highest partnership by any pair in Asia Cup history. Both the players scored their respective tons. KL Rahul, scored his 6th ODI Century after making a grand comeback into the team. Virat Kohli scored his 47th ODI, and 77th International Ton, along with this, he became the fastest Batsman to reach 13000 ODI runs surpassing Sachin Tendulkar. He was adjourned the Man of The Match for his performance.

BRIEF SCORECARD

1st Innings :

India : 356-2 (50)

Virat Kohli : 122* (94)
KL Rahul : 111* (106)

2nd Innings

Pakistan : 128 (32)

India

Kuldeep Yadav : 5/25

Result : India win by 228 runs