IND vs PAK: Virat Kohli stars in India's six-wicket victory with 51st ODI ton as Pakistan on verge of exit

India sealed their place in the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy on Sunday with a second win in as many outings, defeating arch-rivals Pakistan by six wickets on Sunday . Ace batter Virat Kohli continued to shine against the Men in Green, starring in India’s chase of the 242-run target by bringing up his 51st ODI century that helped his team reach the finish line with nearly eight overs to spare.

Kohli has starred in a number of chases over the years and has particularly enjoyed batting against Pakistan. And on Sunday, it was the best of both worlds for the former India captain as he produced a stellar knock, remaining unbeaten on 100 off 111 balls, to send his team through to the knockouts of the ninth edition of the ‘Mini World Cup’.

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It was a historic day for Kohli as he had also broken Sachin Tendulkar's record to become the fastest batter to 14,000 ODI runs, and only the third batter overall in ODIs to reach that milestone. Besides Kohli, middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer (56) and opener Shubman Gill (46) chipped in with valuable contributions and stitched valuable partnerships with the centurion to ensure the Men in Blue waltzed their way home.

Earlier in the day, Kuldeep Yadav (3/40) and Hardik Pandya (2/31) had starred with the ball as India bowled Pakistan out for 241 after the latter opted to bat. Pakistan were cruising at one stage with the score reading 151/2 in the 34th over thanks to a solid partnership between Saud Shakeel (62) and skipper Mohammad Rizwan (46).

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Rizwan’s dismissal, however, sparked a slide that would ensure the Pakistanis fell marginally short of 250 after staring at the prospect of a 300-plus total at one stage.

Hosts and defending champions Pakistan suffered their second consecutive defeat after losing the tournament opener against New Zealand by 60 runs , and are virtually eliminated from the race to the semi-finals.

Brief scores:

Pakistan 241 in 49.4 overs (Saud Shakeel 62, Mohammad Rizwan 46; Kuldeep Yadav 3/40, Hardik Pandya 2/31) lost to India 244/4 in 42.3 overs (Virat Kohli 100*, Shreyas Iyer 56; Shaheen Shah Afridi 2/74, Abrar Ahmed 1/28) by six wickets.