Virat Kohli first to reach five POTM awards against a team in ICC tournaments

In the end it turned out to be Virat Kohli vs Pakistan for the talismanic batsman reached his century in the nick of time as India cricket team coasted to a six-wicket win over Pakistan in the Champions Trophy to put one foot in the semi-finals.

India now have four points with a net run rate of 0.647, having beaten both Pakistan and Bangladesh and top the table. New Zealand are second on the table but they have played only one game and have a superior net run rate of 1.200.

India will qualify if New Zealand beat Bangladesh on Monday. If the Kiwis lose to Bangladesh, then they will have to beat New Zealand in the last game and hope Pakistan beat Bangladesh.

Kohli, however, lit up the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday night.

Chasing 241 on a tricky pitch, India lost Rohit Sharma early. But Kohli and Shubman Gill added 69 for the second wicket. Kohli then added 114 for the third wicket with Shreyas Iyer.

As India neared the target, Kohli closed in on his century.

Towards the end, India needed four runs with eight overs to go. Kohli at that point needed five to reach his hundred. He took a single of the first ball. Then Axar Patel took a single. Kohli needing four to score a hundred and India needing two to win, then hammered a boundary to seal the win and reach his 51st ton.

In the process of Sunday’s innings, he became the quickest to reach 14,000 runs. He reached the milestone in his 287th ODI innings. Sachin Tendulkar had reached the milestone in 350th innings while Kumar Sangakkara reached it in his 378th innings.

Kohli also became the only player to get five Player of the Match awards against one team in an ICC tournament. This was his fifth against Pakistan.

He got his first against Pakistan at the T20 World Cup in Colombo in 2012, second at the 2015 ODI World Cup in Adelaide, third in 2016 T20 World Cup in Kolkata, fourth in 2022 T20 World Cup in Melbourne before Sunday’s award.

Teammate Shreyas Iyer praised Kohli’s hunger.      

“I remember yesterday (Saturday), he had come almost an hour before us for the practice session,” Iyer revealed.

“He played a few balls … he looked as crisp as he looks all the time. It's just the mindset that he possesses over the years. He's always hungry for runs. So, I never feel that he's struggling for runs, to be honest.”

Tags : Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, India cricket team, Pakistan, Dubai, Champions Trophy