Indian cricketer Virat Kohli smashed his 47th century in the crucial Asia Cup clash against Pakistan to guide his side to victory and giving the nation a chance to celebrate the triumph over the arch-rivals.
The nation might be rejoicing and praising his performance in the high-voltage clash. However, it was one post from Anushka Sharma congratulating her husband which stood out among the rest of the congratulatory messages received by him.
Anushka wrote in the story section of her Instagram page with an image of Kohli celebrating the moment after smashing the century: "Super knock, super guy."
After sparkling centuries by Virat Kohli and comeback man KL Rahul, leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav's five wickets sealed a massive 228-run victory for India against Pakistan in Asia Cup's third Super 4 match at R Premadasa Stadium on Monday (September 11, 2023).
This was a perfect start for India in the Super 4 stage as they brutally took down their arch-rivals lock, stock and barrel. The Indian openers scored quick fifties, and then the No.3 and 4 fired up cracking centuries.
They made mince-meat of the much famed Pakistan attack as Rahul made a perfect comeback from an injury and Kohli notching up his 47th ODI hundred and reached 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.
Then medium pacer Shardul Thakur ((1/16) dismissed Mohammad Rizwan with an outswinger 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 (September 10, 2023).
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 97, he ran a double and 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 277 innings. This also was the 4th consecutive century for Virat at this venue.
Rahul remained unbeaten on 111 from 106 balls with 12 boundaries and 2 sixes.