Centuries from Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and a five-wicket haul from left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav saw India defeat Pakistan by a massive 228-run margin in the Super Fours stage of the ongoing 2023 Asia Cup at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Monday.
This is India’s biggest-ever victory margin by runs against arch-rivals Pakistan. The latter were restricted to 128/8 in 32 overs after the men in blue posted a mammoth 356/2 in their quota of 50 overs.
Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf — both of whom picked up injuries during this rain marred two-day contest, did not step out to bat for Pakistan.
Yadav was the wrecker-in-chief as he registered figures of 8-0-25-5 after the trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur picked up a wicket each.
The Pakistan innings never got the required impetus to chase the massive total India set with opener Fakhar Zaman’s 50-ball 27 being the highest score.
Earlier in the day, Kohli (122*) and Rahul (111*) added 233 off just 194 deliveries as India posted an enormus total after being asked to bat first on Sunday.
While Rahul brought up his sixth ODI century off 100 deliveries on his return to the set-up after a long injury layoff, Kohli followed soon after off just 84 deliveries.
Things never went Pakistan’s way following a delayed start on the reserve day. Firstly they lost Haris Rauf as a precuationary measure while Naseem Shah later walked off without completing his quota of overs.
However, none of it mattered to Kohli and Rahul as they registered the biggest ever ODI partnership in a India versus Pakistan clash, going past the record held by Sachin Tendulkar and Navjot Singh Sidhu since 1996.
Highest ODI partnership in IND v/s PAK
| Batters | Runs | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Virat Kohli-KL Rahul | 233* | 2023 |
| Sachin Tendulkar-Navjot Sidhu | 231 | 1996 |
| Saeed Anwar-Ijaz Ahmed | 230 | 1998 |
| Nasir Jamshed-Mohammed Hafeez | 224 | 2012 |
| Rohit Sharma-Shikhar Dhawan | 210 | 2018 |
Earlier incessant rains had halted the match with India 147-2 in 24.1 overs after being invited to bat first on Sunday.
Kohli was batting on eight, and the returning Rahul on 17 were at the crease when rain forced players off the field and the play was abandoned.
Before the rain on Sunday, India captain Rohit Sharma, who hit 56, and Shubman Gill, who made 58, put on 121 runs for the opening wicket before Shadab Khan and left-arm quick Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up their wickets respectively.
Here’s a look at the reactions from the match:
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