IND vs PAK: Virat Kohli smashes 51st ODI century during Champions Trophy 2025 match against Pakistan
IND vs PAK: Virat Kohli smashes 51st ODI century during Champions Trophy 2025 match against Pakistan
Virat Kohli slammed his 51st One-Day International century during the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 match against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday.
He reached his hundred off 111 balls with a match-winning boundary in the 43rd over that took India to a six-wicket win against its archrival. Kohli’s century, his fourth in ODIs against Pakistan, was laced with seven fours.
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“To be honest, it feels good to be able to bat in that manner in an important game to seal qualification. [It] feels good to contribute in a game where we lost Rohit [Sharma] early, had to put in the understanding of what we learnt in the last game. My job was to control the middle overs against the spinners without taking too many risks. Towards the end, Shreyas [Iyer] accelerated and I got a few boundaries as well. It allowed me to play my usual ODI game,” Kohli, who was named Player-of-the-match, said after the game.
Kohli stitched two crucial partnerships with Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer, adding 69 and 114 runs, respectively, with them to steer India’s 242-run chase.
The 36-year-old’s last ton, his 50th, in the format came during the 2023 ODI World Cup semifinal against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium. He had gone past Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries during that knock.
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On Sunday, Kohli broke another one of Tendulkar’s records when he became the quickest batter to score 14,000 ODI runs. He achieved the feat in his 287th inning in the format, while Tendulkar had taken 350 innings to get to the mark.
Earlier in the day, Kohli also surpassed former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin’s record for most catches by an Indian fielder in ODIs. Kohli took two catches during Pakistan’s innings, taking his career tally to 158.
India will conclude its set of group-stage matches against New Zealand on March 2 in Dubai, and Kohli is glad to have a week off ahead of the contest.
“To be honest, at 36, it feels really good. Will put my feet up for a few days as it takes a lot out of me to put that kind of effort into every game,” he quipped.
