Kohli has an average of 91 against Pakistan which shows how much he loves to perform against them. He soaked the pressure better than anyone in this match and proved once again why he is called a chasing master
Virat Kohli showed his brilliance once again on the big stage when it mattered the most and played a vital knock to help India beat arch-rivals Pakistan by six wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday. (Highlights | Full Coverage | More Cricket News)
The 36-year-old Kohli timed his well-paced knock beautifully and also completed his 51st ODI century while chasing a tricky target of 242 runs against Pakistan. This was his fourth century against the neighbours.
Kohli has an average of 91 against Pakistan which shows how much he loves to perform against them. He soaked the pressure better than anyone in this match and proved once again why he is called a chasing master!
There were many concerns about Kohli's form before the tournament. He also struggled with runs during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but showed some improvement in the bilateral series against England where he also hit a half-century.
India lost their first wicket early in the fifth over when Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled captain Rohit Sharma with a toe-crushing yorker. Then came King Kohli and looked in fine touch with the first delivery he played.
He took his time and framed his inning with mostly singles and doubles. He took 111 balls to reach his century which included seven fours.
He added 69 runs with Shubman Gill for the second wicket and 114 runs for the third wicket with Shreyas Iyer.
India needed 19 runs to win when Hardik Pandya lost his wicket on the last delivery of the 40th over. Axar Patel joined Kohli when he still needed 14 runs to complete his century.
Afridi conceded three wide deliveries in the next over but Kohli kept pushing for singles and doubles to come closer to his hundred. He achieved the feat with a boundary over covers off Khushdil Shah on the third delivery of the 43rd over to win the match as well.
During his unbeaten knock, he also complete his 14,000 ODI runs and became the quickest to reach the milestone. He took just 287 innings to complete 14 thousand runs whereas the second-quickest was Sachin Tendulkar who took 350 innings to reach there.
Kohli was named Player of the Match for his match-winning performance. This was his fifth POTM award against Pakistan in ICC tournaments. No other player has won more than three Player of the Match against a single opponent in ICC tournaments.
India will face New Zealand in their next Group A match on 2 March at the same venue whereas Pakistan will clash with Bangladesh on 27 February in Rawalpindi.