India thrashed Pakistan by six wickets to seal a berth in the semi-finals. Defeat always hurts, but what hurts fans in green even more is that Pakistan got knocked out of an ICC tournament they were hosting for the first time in 30 years
On Sunday, February 23, a part of the world was painted in blue and green, as it was the India vs Pakistan clash--the biggest rivalry in cricket and perhaps in all of sports. Match 5 of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 brought these two arch-rivals against each other at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, where the Men in Green suffered defeat and the king made his return. (Match Highlights | Full Coverage | More Cricket News)
India thrashed Pakistan by six wickets to seal a berth in the semi-finals. Defeat always hurts, but what hurts fans in green even more is that Pakistan got knocked out of an ICC tournament they were hosting for the first time in 30 years.
Openers Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq made a cautious start but couldn't stay long, departing for 23 and 10, respectively.
The match began with Rohit Sharma라이브 바카라 13th consecutive toss loss, as Mohammad Rizwan opted to bat first--perhaps hoping to recreate Pakistan라이브 바카라 2017 attempt where they posted 384/4.
Azam looked million dollars while playing those trademark cover drives for a few boundaries off Harshit Rana and Hardik Pandya.
But that desire to drive brought his doom as well. Pandya immediately pulled the length back after getting driven for a four and Azam's full-throttle shot took an edge to KL Rahul's big gloves.
Soon, Imam took off for a non-existent single and Axar Patel at mid-on just had to hit the stumps, which he did.
At 47 for two, Pakistan had their task cut out in a high-pressure match but Rizwan and Shakeel brought some stability to their innings with composed knocks.
India also had a couple of worrying points at this stage as veteran pacer Mohammed Shami and skipper Rohit Sharma had to stay off the field for some time.
Shami had to tend to his shin while Rohit looked in some discomfort primarily because of the heat here. However, both of them returned to the field to allay the concerns.
Rizwan's adventurous shimmy down the track against Axar saw him losing the stumps, and from thereon Pakistan went on a downward spiral.
Shakeel, who played the pull with some conviction, perished to the same shot against Pandya, skying a simple catch to Axar in the deep.
Salman, Afridi and Naseem Shah fell to Kuldeep's guile as India tightened their grip.
Khushdil (38, 39 balls) played a couple of big shots, including the first six of Pakistan innings, that helped his side reach a healthy total.
A large chunk of credit for this win can also be rightfully claimed by Indian bowlers, who were stunningly accurate while limiting Pakistan to 241.
The pitch expectedly grew slow once the match entered the middle passage, and the precision of Indian bowlers made run-making a laboured task with left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav leading the way (3/40).
And then came the moment to chase down the target. India began their innings with Rohit Sharma rolling back the years with glimpses of his 'Hitman' era, while Shubman Gill looked elegant and fluent at the crease.
Chasing a tricky 242, India rode on Kohli's 51st ODI ton, Shreyas Iyer's classy 67-ball 56 and Shubman Gill's brilliant start of 46 off 52 balls to overhaul the target with more than seven overs to spare.
Kohli rebelled against his own modest recent form and a dangerous opposition to peel off a memorable knock that took 111 balls and was punctuated with seven fours, posting a solid 100.
But he slayed each one of them, in a manner befitting a batter who also became the quickest to 14,000 ODI runs during the course of the knock.
Pakistan might have hoped to hustle him a bit through pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf.
But Kohli drove them on the up with elan or pulled them with audacity as Pakistan's premier pacers transformed into dejected figures after the early high of Afridi castling Rohit Sharma (20 off 15 balls) with a peach of a yorker.
India chased down the target in 42.3 overs posting 244/4 with Kohli (100) and Axar Patel (3) at the crease.
(With PTI Inputs)