ICC Champions Trophy: 'Virat Swaroop' seen in front of Pakistan, Indian team reached close to semi-final by winning two consecutive matches

Whenever the issues are big, Virat Kohli stands against Pakistan. Virat, who has scored four centuries and two half-centuries in 17 ODIs against Pakistan, showed his great form in the biggest match of the ICC Champions Trophy on Sunday.

Whether it was an innings of 183 runs in the Asia Cup in Mirpur in 2012 scoring 107 runs while batting first in Adelaide in the 2015 World Cup or scoring an unbeaten 81 in the 2017 Champions Trophy in Birmingham to help his team win.

Virat Kohli played an unbeaten century, Team India got a great win over Pakistan.

This batsman's record against Pakistan has always been good. Whether scoring 77 runs in the 2019 World Cup or scoring an unbeaten 122 in adverse conditions to give a great win against Pakistan in the 2023 Asia Cup, Virat never wavered.

How can anyone forget his unbeaten innings of 82 runs against the neighboring country's team in the 2022 T20 World Cup? Similarly, by scoring an unbeaten 100 runs in the great match of the Champions Trophy in Dubai on Sunday, he not only gave India a six-wicket win but also almost confirmed the team's place in the semi-finals.

India won two consecutive matches in the Champions Trophy 2025

This defeat has almost ended Pakistan's journey to reach the knockout. The Indian team, which defeated Bangladesh by six wickets in the first match, has won two out of three in its group. It has to play the third match against New Zealand in Dubai on March 2.

Before India, the New Zealand team defeated Pakistan at home. In such a situation, India and New Zealand are most expected to reach the semi-finals from this group.

Kohli's bat thunders a lot against Pakistan.

Now talking about Virat, this great batsman of India has played 17 ODIs against Pakistan in which he has scored 778 runs at an average of 59.84. At the same time, he has scored 492 runs in 11 T20s against this team at an average of 70.28. He has scored five half-centuries against Pakistan in this format. Whenever he plays against Pakistan, he gets some different powers.

In Melbourne, he won a lost match by hitting two sixes off Haris Rauf in the T20 World Cup, so here before this match he was looking for form, but as soon as he came in front of Mohammad Rizwan's team, he batted as if there was no problem in his bat. He had earlier scored a century in this format against New Zealand in the semi-finals of the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Chasing a target of 242 runs, the Indian team lost Rohit's wicket at a total score of 31 but after that, Virat and Gill shared a 69-run partnership. After this, Virat snatched the match from Pakistan by sharing 114 runs with Shreyas. He paid less attention to fours and sixes and kept moving forward by taking one or two runs comfortably. He scored his 51st century in ODIs and 82nd century in international cricket.

India vs Pakistan: Bowlers dominated

The Pakistani captain won the toss and decided to bat first but due to the accurate performance of the Indian bowlers, the host team could score only 241 runs. Shakeel scored 62 and added 104 runs with captain Mohammad Rizwan (46) for the third wicket. Apart from this, there was no big partnership for the Pakistani team.

The pitch slowed down in the middle overs and the Indian bowlers made it difficult for Pakistan to score runs by keeping the right line and length. Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep took three wickets for 40 runs in nine overs.

Both Pakistani openers returned to the pavilion cheaply.

The Indian bowlers had created so much pressure that at one time Rizwan and Shakeel could not hit any four for 55 balls. After Babar Azam (23) and Imam-ul-Haq (10) were dismissed cheaply, both had to avoid taking risks.

Babar had started well and hit some of his trademark cover drives to Harshit Rana and Hardik Pandya but he could not last long. After hitting a four off Pandya's ball, he was caught by KL Rahul on the next ball.

After this, Imam lost his wicket while trying to steal a run quickly. He ran to take the run but Akshar standing at mid-on scattered the stumps with a direct throw. During bowling, Mohammed Shami and Rohit had to leave the field for some time. Rohit was feeling uncomfortable in the heat while Shami had some trouble in his calf. However, both returned to the field.

Virat became the fastest batsman to score 14000 ODI runs.

Virat Kohli on Sunday became the fastest batsman to complete 14000 runs in ODI cricket. He is now the third batsman to score more than 14000 runs in ODIs. India's great batsman Sachin Tendulkar (18246) and Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara (14234) are ahead of him.

Kohli completed 14000 runs in 287 innings. Virat needed 15 runs to reach this figure. He made the record by hitting a four in the cover in the 13th over to Haris Rauf. He completed 13000 ODI runs in September 2023 during the Asia Cup in Colombo against Pakistan.

He also holds the record for most 50 centuries in ODI cricket. He broke Tendulkar's record in the 2023 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in Mumbai.

Kohli also broke Mohammad Azharuddin's record of most catches by an Indian fielder in ODIs in this match against Pakistan. Kohli took his 157th catch in his 299th match.

Azhar had taken 156 catches in 334 ODIs between 1985 and 2000. Kohli took a diving catch of Pakistan's Naseem Shah running from long-on off Kuldeep Yadav's ball. After this, he also took the catch of Khushdil Shah in deep midwicket off Harshit Rana's ball.