India annihilates Pakistan after Kohli, Rahul centuries

By Saadi Thawfeeq

Centuries by Virat Kohli and Lokesh Rahul who were involved in a record breaking 233 runs unbroken partnership for the third wicket saw India run up a mammoth 356-2 and hand to Pakistan a merciless thrashing by 228 runs to pick up their first points in the Asia Cup Super4 at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Rain interrupted play during Pakistan’s run chase at the end of the 11th over when they were 44-2, but after play resumed following a 72-minute break with no overs reduced the rest of the batting simply crumbled to seam and spin to be all out for a dismal 128 with two of their batsmen unable to bat.

For Pakistan to successfully chase down such a tall target they needed a solid foundation from the openers. But it was not to be. India consumed Imam-ul-Haq in the fifth over and from there onwards it was a procession of wickets that followed with no noteworthy partnerships to sustain the innings. With the Indian seamers making the ball jag around off a good length, batting became a nightmare. Most of the time the batsmen were defending more than attacking. When the spinners came on, they tried to take the attack to them, but failed miserably with left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav picking up five wickets for 25.

At the back of fifties from Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, it was the turn of Kohli and Rahul to carry the innings to another level with both batsmen completing centuries as India ran up their highest total in the Asia Cup against a Test-playing nation. They scored 374-4 against Hong Kong at Karachi in 2008.

Following a 100-minute delay from the scheduled start, play finally got underway with no overs reduced at 4.40pm and India’s overnight pair Kohli and Rahul simply took the Pakistani bowlers to the cleaners with an effortless display of batting. They batted with such ease that Pakistan’s usually dangerous fast bowling attack was made to look pretty ordinary except for a few deliveries from Naseem Shah that beat the bat but failed to find the edge.

Initially, Kohli was quite content to let his younger partner do all the scoring, before he moved into top gear when nearing his century. Rahul beat him to the 50 and the 100 but consumed more balls than his senior partner. In fact, Rahul reached 50 off 60 balls and his 100 off a run-a-ball. Kohli on the other hand completed his 50 off 55 balls and brought up his 47th ODI hundred off 84 balls. While doing so, he completed 13,000 ODI runs becoming the fastest to do so in terms of innings, and joined an elite band of cricketers who had done so before him Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya.   

A feature of their partnership was the excellent running between the wickets, converting ones into twos, that left the Pakistani fielders helpless.  

Rahul marked his return to cricket after injury with a fine century, but his comeback was somewhat not the way he intended because of an injury to Shreyas Iyer.Overall, India struck 37 fours and nine sixes with 21 fours and five sixes of them coming off the bats of Kohli and Rahul. Kohli ended up 122* off 94 balls and Rahul 111* off 106 balls. India pounded the Pakistan bowling to the tune of 209 off 25.5 overs after they resumed at 147-2.

Pakistan solely missed Haris Rauf who was ruled out with a side strain and they struggled to find the fifth bowler to make up for his loss. Ifthikar Ahmed didn’t quite fit the bill conceding 52 runs off 5.4 overs and to add more salt to the wound Naseem Shah who was the pick of the Pakistani bowlers hurt his bowling wrist and went off the field with four balls of his final over remaining. India will play Sri Lanka in their second Super4 game today.