It was like the good old days. Virat Kohli might have had a half century in his last five innings but a generation of fans know that it was far from the storied ‘Classic Kohli’ innings.
Against Pakistan, it was very much the hungry Kohli of the yore who had the insatiable hunger to chase totals in ODIs. At the Dubai International Stadium, Pakistan were not at their best but there was a testing period when Kohli walked into the bat. However, the former Indian captain measured himself to take India to another ICC tournament victory against Pakistan. It was not as legendary as the MCG knock in the 2022 T20 World Cup, but this was Kohli’s match.
After much back and forth with his teammates while being in nineties, Kohli smashed the winnings, a boundary to his 51st ODI hundred to add another feather to his cap along with completing 14,000 runs in the format and overtaking the great Ricky Ponting’s international runs tally.
Here are three takeaways from his superb ton that more or less secured India’s semifinal spot in the Champions Trophy 2025.
Ahead of the big clash, Kohli surprised the stadium staffers and the broadcasters by coming in early by two hours to get extra time for his practice. In the last few innings, there was that big question of getting out to Adil Rashid and leg spinners in particular. Pakistan had Abrar Ahmed as their main spin threat in the Champions Trophy 2025 and Kohli tackled the threat fairly well.
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As soon as the opening powerplay got over and Abrar was introduced, Kohli didn’t attack him. He went for the defensive backfoot and saved his batting flair for the quicks and part-timers.
He only leaned in on his front foot when Abrar went short and managed to 14 singles and double. However, it is a good sign for India that Kohli played more to his strengths rather than trying to overcome his weaknesses.
Overall, Kohli faced roughly the same number of balls against pace and spin, while scoring double the number of runs against pace.
When Kohli walked in at 31/1 in the sixth over, India were yet to get out of woods with Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi still dangerous with the new ball. The ball was swinging and Rohit had just got out to a terrific swinging yorker. Kohli went for his favorite cover drive only when they erred and kept his cool when the lines were tight. However, there were no signs of him hunting that fifth stump ball and getting an edge.
Kohli, one of the greatest chasers in world cricket with over 27 hundreds in the second innings and a ridiculous average of 63, wasn’t in his career-defining element since 2022. In the last three years, he had scored just one hundred and five fifties and averaged below 40 from 19 innings when India chased. Today’s hundred bumped up his average for this period to 44 as he added Not Out No. 35 to overall career as a chaser.
It might be a hyperbole, but having Kohli for the 2027 World Cup South Africa can just be an advantage for India. There’s a huge possibility that another talented swashbuckler could take his place. But the way Kohli played through the offside and dealt with some of the bodyline stuff from Pakistani pacers was a vintage display of his technique.
There was no second guessing on what shot he would choose. He played the pull perfectly, swatted down the deliveries near the shoulder to the third man and played confidently through square of the wicket. Adding more to it, Kohli’s entire innings included just seven boundaries and no sixes.
At 36, he is proving to be among the best runners between wickets as 59 runs came through sprinting in sultry Dubai evening during his two and half hour innings. He will be 38 by the time the 2027 ODI World Cup rolls, but seems like Kohli will be able to ace the Yo-Yo Test.
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