India’s veteran cricketer Virat Kohli rolled back the clock with a spectacular hundred against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2025 match in Dubai. Kohli was at his absolute best during this game as he paced his innings beautifully.
After the match, Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma was all praises for him and gave a blunt reply to his critics. Kohli has been under the scanner of his critics for the last few months because of his low returns with the bat.
He had a disappointing season in Test cricket and was also dismissed for just 22 off 38 balls against Bangladesh in India’s first match of the Champions Trophy 2025. However, the star cricketer returned to his best against his favorite opponent Pakistan.
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Rajkumar Sharma blasts critics after Virat Kohli’s century
Rajkumar Sharma spoke to ANI after the match and asked Virat Kohli’s critics to look at the batter’s overall stats. He hailed Kohli’s work ethic for delivering a no. of match-winning performances over the years.
“It was a remarkable performance. He (Virat Kohli) has been doing this for a long time. All I can say to critics is just look at his stats. Everybody has their thinking, but Virat gives his answer with the bat. His work ethic is strong. That is why he has delivered so many performances,” Rajkumar said.
Virat Kohli scored a brilliant 100 off 111 balls against Pakistan to bring up his 51st ODI hundred. He showed intent right from the start and looked in his zone from the first ball he had faced.
He constantly rotated the strike and hardly looked out of touch during this knock. The 36-year-old put the bad balls away and showed that he still has it in him. He brought up his century off the last ball of the match by smashing the left-arm spinner Khushdil Shah for a four through the covers.
Number of records broken by Virat Kohli
During this knock, Virat Kohli became the fastest man to reach the milestone of 14,000 runs in ODI cricket. Kohli broke the record of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar who had earlier reached this feat in 350 innings.
However, Kohli reached 14,000 ODI runs in just 287 innings, which means that he took almost 60 innings less than Tendulkar. Kohli, Tendulkar, and Kumar Sangakkara are the only players in history to score 14,000 runs in ODIs so far.
The hundred against Pakistan was Kohli’s sixth hundred in ICC events and his first ever in the Champions Trophy. He was adjudged the Player of the Match for his performance which was his first in the Champions Trophy since 2009 when a young Kohli got the award for his performance against West Indies.
India moves closer to the semi-final
India maintained their spectacular record over Pakistan in the ICC events after this victory. The Men in Blue were put into field first in sapping heat at Dubai. Pakistan had their moments when Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel were building a solid stand.
However, Indian bowlers showed their experience by reducing Pakistan to 241. In reply, India started brightly with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill taking the attack to the opposition. But Shaheen Afridi struck back with a brilliant yorker to dismiss India’s captain.
Gill was also dismissed by an unplayable delivery from the legspinner Abrar Ahmed. However, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer formed a brilliant partnership of 114 runs for the third wicket to kill the game. It was a mere formality from that point as the Men in Blue chased down the target with more than seven overs to spare.
