Virat Kohli got to his 51st ODI century with a boundary when three runs were required for India to win against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy. India now have two wins in as many matches and have all but sealed a place in the semis.
It might have been the 51st century for Virat Kohli but it was a long time coming for the fans, the team and the country overall as after it was established that India couldn’t lose to Pakistan in Dubai in the Champions Trophy clash on Sunday, February 23, the whole nation wanted the ODI great to get to his century, which he eventually did. Pakistan seemingly gave a few extras to sort of deny it, Hardik Pandya and Shreyas Iyer scored a few boundaries but kept Kohli’s score in check to ensure that there were enough runs left for him to go past the three-figure mark.
When there were a couple of wides bowled, one of which also went for extra runs behind the keeper, the contest between the runs needed for India to win and for Kohli to get to his century got more gripping than the actual game. Hence, Kohli and Axar Patel had to calculate it precisely, how they wanted to go about it as there was a situation when the right-hander was batting at 94 and India needed just five runs to win.
Kohli took a single on the final delivery of Shaheen Afridi’s over which had as many as four wides. Now, Kohli couldn’t afford to score a boundary since he still needed five for his century. So, Kohli and Axar took a single each for the former to now be just a boundary away with India needing two runs to win. The camera panned onto the Indian dressing room and captain Rohit Sharma could be seen gesturing for Kohli to go for the big one.
Since the moment was shown on the big screen at the venue, Kohli also saw the same and instantly went for a lofted cover drive to end the game and raise his arms up in the air to celebrate his century. Kohli seemingly gestured to Rohit then that he knew what he was doing and asked the skipper to “just relax”.
Watch the video here:
India chased down a modest total of 242 runs with 45 balls to spare as Kohli’s century aided by contributions from Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill guided the Men in Blue to a semis spot-sealing victory while pushing Pakistan to the brink in the ongoing Champions Trophy.