Champions Trophy 2025: Record-breaking Virat Kohli leads India to a six-wicket victory over rivals Pakistan | Cricket News

Virat Kohli became the fastest player to 14,000 ODI runs as he hit 100 not out to guide India to a six-wicket victory over Pakistan in the Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Stadium.

Chasing a modest 242 for victory on a slow track, India’s captain Rohit Sharma (20) and Shubman Gill (46) led the charge before they were bowled by Shaheen Shah Afridi (2-74) and Abrar Ahmed (1-28) respectively.

Kohli (100no off 111 balls) and Shreyas Iyer (56) put on a blistering 114-run partnership to guide India to 244-4 in just 42.3 overs, with the former also making history in the field by taking his 158th ODI catch, an Indian record.

Earlier, Saud Shakeel (62) put on a slow and steady fight against an in-form India attack, sharing a 104-run with his captain Muhammad Rizwan (46), after Pakistan won the toss and inserted themselves.

However, India’s bowlers took regular wickets, with Kuldeep Yadav (3-40) striking twice in the same number of balls, and paired with their sharp fielding they bowled Pakistan out for 241 with two balls remaining.

After losing their opening match against New Zealand, tournament hosts Pakistan now sit at the bottom of the Group A table and are all but out of the Champions Trophy, while favourites India climb to the top with four points.

Both teams have one game left in the group stage as Pakistan take on Bangladesh on February 27 and India face New Zealand on March 2, live on Sky Sports Cricket.

Kohli helps India dominate proceedings

Rohit hit three boundaries and one six as he led the charge alongside Gill but Shaheen managed to get through his defences with a ripping inswinging yorker.

Gill added seven boundaries during his 52-ball cameo and looked on course for another century before he was bowled by Abrar’s carrom ball.

Pakistan failed to capitalise on their early breakthroughs as Kohli ran riot, bringing up his 51st ODI ton, which contained seven boundaries.

Kohli shared a fluent partnership with Shreyas, who was dropped on 27 by Saud, as Pakistan struggled to get a breakthrough with star bowlers Naseem Shah (0-37), Haris Rauf (0-52) and Salman Ali Agha (0-10) all going wicketless.

Shreyas brought up his half-century from 63 balls but was caught by a diving Imam-ul-Haq off to Khushdil Shah (1-43).

Shaheen had Hardik Pandya (8) feather behind but with India needing 19 from 60 balls celebrations were muted from Pakistan.

With India needing two runs for victory and Kohli requiring four to reach his milestone, he creamed Khushdil through covers to bring up his century and lead his side to victory with 45 deliveries to spare.

India have now beaten Pakistan in eight of their last nine ODI matches.

Pakistan slump to bottom of Group A

Batting first, Pakistan lost both of their openers, Babar Azam (23) and Imam (10) within the powerplay, with the former nicking behind off Pandya (2-31) and the latter getting run out after a terrific direct hit from Axar Patel (1-49).

Saud (62), who was dropped by Kuldeep on 57, put on a fight against India’s excellent bowling, sharing a 104-run with Rizwan (46), and their cautious batting helped steady Pakistan to 151-2 but the pair only added 104 runs in 24 overs before the skipper was bowled by Patel.

The tournament hosts then suffered a mini-collapse, falling to 165-5 in the next three overs, after Saud holed Hardik out to deep midwicket and Ravindra Jadeja (1-40) bowled Tayyab Tahir (4) who played the wrong line.

Salman (19) and Khushdil (38) added 35 runs for the sixth wicket helping Pakistan to over 200.

Kuldeep (3-40) then struck twice, having Salman caught at cover point and Shaheen (0) trapped lbw for a duck before Naseem dug out the hat-trick ball.

Kohli helped to dismiss Naseem (14) with a superb low catch at long-on and gifted Kuldeep his third scalp.

Patel’s excellent fielding continued as he fired in a throw on the bounce to Rahul behind the stumps to run out Haris Rauf (8).

Khushdil’s late cameo contained two sixes which helped Pakistan to a respectable, but under-par total, before he top-edged Harshit Rana (1-30) to Kohli at deep mid-wicket.

Rizwan: Pakistan made a lot of mistakes

Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan:

“We won the toss but didn’t get the benefit. We wanted to get 280 but their bowlers did really well in the middle overs.

“We took our time as we wanted to go deep but our shot selection was bad and we lost wickets, which is why we were kept to 240.

“Kohli and Gill took the game far from us and we must improve our fielding. We made a lot of mistakes and in the last match as well.”

Rohit hails India team effort

India skipper Rohit Sharma:

“We started superbly with the ball. We knew the wicket could get slower but we backed our experienced batters to go out there and get 240.

“It was a good performance from the entire bowling unit. It’s tricky at times because not all will get to bowl 10 overs.

“I try to figure out who’s creating the most problems to the batters and make decisions. Everyone will have different days.”

What’s next?

Pakistan will face Bangladesh on Thursday, February 27 in Rawalpindi whilst India come up against New Zealand on Sunday, March 2. Both games will be live on Sky Sports Cricket from 8.30am.

ICC Champions Trophy 2025 – results and fixtures 🏏

Group A

Group B

Semi-finals

• March 4: Semi-final – A1 v B2 (Dubai)
• March 5: Semi-final 2 – A2 v B1 (Lahore)

Final

• March 9: Final (Lahore or Dubai)