Online Desk: Veteran batsman Virat Kohli and his fellow KL Rahul hit wonderful hundreds as India set a massive target of 357 runs to Pakistan in the high-voltage match of the Super Four in the Asia Cup. Both batsmen remain unbeaten toward the end and made a 233-run partnership in the third wicket with Kohli playing a quickfire 122 off 94 and Rahul 111 off 106 to help the team post a huge total of 356 runs on the board.
Earlier, the game resumed on the reserve day (Monday) delaying more than one and a half hours due to rain in Colombo. It started at 5:10 pm Bangladesh time for the wet outfield at R Premadasa Stadium despite being scheduled to begin at 3:30 pm. India came from 147/2 in 24.1 overs where the match was called off due to rain on Sunday. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul were unbeaten on 8 and 17 respectively.
Kohli and Rahul were calculated in the beginning, but then attacked the part-timers, taking their chances perfectly. It was an incredible return to ODI cricket for Rahul, who was back to his classy best with some neat flicks and drives to score another century. Virat Kohli at the other end showed a masterclass in running between the wickets, kept busy, and ended up scoring at a strike rate of nearly 130. He completed his 13,000 ODI runs during his innings.
Being asked to bat first, India got a flying start on the basis of the opening pair between skipper Rohit Sharma and his fellow Shubman Gill, collecting 121 runs. Rohit hit a 56-run knock from 49 balls before being sent back to the pavilion by Shadab Khan. Gill departed from the very next over of Shaheen Afridi on his 58 off 52. Only Shadab and Shaheen were successful bowlers from Pakistan as both of them got one wicket in the match.
Pakistan are going against India with the same XI that was against Bangladesh in their first match. On the other hand, there have been two changes in the Indian camp. Lokesh Rahul is playing in place of Shreyas Iyer and Jasprit Bumrah has come in place of Mohammad Shami.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Lokesh Rahul, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah
Pakistan Playing XI: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf.