The India vs Pakistan Champions Trophy match turned out to be an excellent one for Rohit Sharma and team, where they emerged victorious by six wickets, and 7.3 overs to spare. First, with the ball it was Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav, but come the chase, it was Virat Kohli who came up with a near-perfect performance, to score his 82nd international hundred.
On the other hand, the Pakistanis were poor throughout.. and failed collectively with the bat, ball, and while fielding too. Perhaps, only two remotely decent performances came from Saud Shakeel and Abrar Ahmed. InsideSport rates a few players from both the sides.
Virat Kohli 10/10, Shreyas Iyer secures 8/10
It would be blasphemous to give Virat Kohli, a point less than 10/10. After battling reports of poor form, he just showed why he is best in the business still, at 36. Despite starting slowly, he first made his 50 in 62 deliveries, and that completed ton in 111. He was ably supported by Shreyas Iyer, who helped India chase down 242, and scored 56 from 67. He took the attack to the PAK bowlers, when they tried to bowl defensive.
Shubman Gill 6.5/10, Misses Out on Big Score
Shubman Gill had two back-to-back hundreds before this match, but was unfortunate to get a ripper from Abrar Ahmed. He got clean bowled for 46, and couldn’t take India home. But he was still fluent throughout his innings, and would score a lot more runs in the Champions Trophy 2025.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf Get 2/10
A big reason for Pakistan losing so meekly, was their poor bowling effort. Shaheen Shah picked up Rohit Sharma early, but then he leaked 74 runs in just 8 overs, at 9.20 RPO. That is not what is expected from the pace spearhead. As for Haris Rauf, he was once again expensive, giving away 52 runs in 7 overs. His RPO stood at 7.40.
Abrar Ahmed, Saud Shakeel Impress, Relatively – Get 7/10
It is difficult to beat a team like India, with efforts from just two players. And that is where Pakistan lost the match. Nonetheless, Abrar Ahmed was Pakistan’s best bowler on the day, and returned with figures of 1/28 in 10 overs. Let’s talk about PAK’s batting too; there wasn’t much to discuss, but Saud Shakeel came up with 62 from 76. He strung 104-run partnership with Mohammad Rizwan. Babar Azam, with yet another failure was 2/10.
Harshit Rana 7/10, Hardik Pandya 8/10, Kuldeep Yadav 7.5/10
Whatever doubts there were over Harshit Rana’s ability with the ball — he showed with his 1/30 in 7.4 overs, that he belongs in the playing XI. If he had been lucky, he would have gotten a couple of more wickets. As for Hardik Pandya, who achieved his 200th wicket, was just excellent with his wickets of Saud and Babar Azam. He was miserly with his slower deliveries, and off-cutters. Lastly, a big relief for India as Kuldeep Yadav bounced back to form with three wickets. He was close to getting a hat-trick too, and has ensured that Varun Chakravarthy will still warm the bench.
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