February 16, 2026 04:48 pm (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
India’s wholesale inflation rises to 1.81% in January as manufacturing prices surge | 'India at forefront of AI revolution': PM Modi welcomes world leaders to Delhi summit | Rs 5,000 to women ahead of Tamil Nadu polls! Vijay slams Stalin, says: ‘take the money, blow the whistle’ | Modi congratulates Tarique Rahman as BNP clinches majority in Bangladesh polls | Bangladesh Polls: Tarique Rahman-led BNP secures 'absolute majority' with 151 seats in historic comeback | BJP MP files notice to cancel Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha membership, seeks life-long ban | Arrested in the morning, out by evening: Tycoon’s son walks free in Lamborghini crash case | ‘Why should you denigrate a section of society?’: Supreme Court pulls up ‘Ghooskhor Pandat’ makers | Bangladesh poll manifestos mirror India’s welfare schemes as BNP, Jamaat bet big on women, freebies | Drama ends: Pakistan makes U-turn on India boycott, to play T20 World Cup clash as per schedule
Asia Cup
Photo courtesy: Twitter/@BCCI

After Virat Kohli and KL Rahul's sparkling tons, Kuldeep Yadav seals it for India against Pakistan

| @indiablooms | Sep 12, 2023, at 05:06 pm

Colombo/UNI: After sparkling centuries by Virat Kohli and comeback man KL Rahul, leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav's five wickets sealed a massive 228-run victory against Pakistan in Asia Cup's third Super 4 match at R Premadasa Stadium here on Monday.

This was a perfect start for India in the Super 4 stage as they royally hammered their arch rivals lock, stock and barrel. Their openers scored quick fifties, and then the No.3 and 4 fired up cracking centuries.

They made mince-meat of the much famed Pakistan pacers as Rahul made a perfect comeback from an injury and Kohli notching up his 47th ODI hundred and reaching 13,000 ODI runs.

In the second innings, Indian seamers Jasprit Bumrah (1/18) and Mohammad Siraj were on the dot, troubling the edgy Pakistani openers with swing and snorters. But the ball of the match was Hardik Pandya's in-cutter that zipped into Babar Azam's timbers after the Pakistan captain had made 10.

Photo courtesy: Twitter/@BCCI

Then medium pacer Shardul Thakur ((1/16) dismissed Mohammad Rizwan with a beauty for 2. Next Kuldeep took charge, producing a lot of turn from a pitch that seemed to help the seamers, and ended up with figures of 5/25.

For Pakistan, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah did not come out to bat, as their innings folded for a paltry 128 in 32 overs, after a painful wait of 32 hours since the first ball was bowled on Sunday.

For all the hype around the clash and the special inclusion of the reserve day, the game proved to be a one-sided affair.

After a long delay and a reserve day, the Pakistanis could have been cursing the rain gods and then their fate as they lost Haris Rauf due to an injury during the day.

Taking advantage of it, Rahul and Kohli took calculated risks in the beginning, but attacked the part-timers later with ferocity.

It was a magnificent comeback for Rahul who flaunted his class picking up the balls early while executing unblemished flicks and drives to notch up his 6th ODI ton.

Kohli slammed 122 from 94 balls in an innings studded with 9 boundaries and 3 sixes. Batting on 98, he became the fastest batsman to reach 13,000 ODI runs, breaking Sachin Tendulkar's record.

Tendulkar had achieved the milestone in 321 innings, and Virat did in just 277 innings. This also was the 4th consecutive century for Virat at this venue.

Photo courtesy: Twitter/@BCCI

Rahul remained unbeaten on 111 from 106 balls with 12 boundaries and 2 sixes.

India had a great start on Sunday after Babar sent them to bat in the rain-affected match. Rohit (56) and Shubman Gill (58) came out with a positive intention against the new ball.

Rohit was nervous against the pacers, but made up by taking on Shadab for a 19-run over. Both openers got fifties before they were dismissed in successive overs. Then came the rain, a long delay and then a reserve day.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.