Kohli aces another chase for India, Pakistan stare at exit

DUBAI : Milestone man Virat Kohli anchored a tricky chase with an unbeaten hundred as India put one foot in the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy with a six-wicket victory against Pakistan in a high-octane Group A match between the arch-rivals on Sunday.

An architect of countless successful chases, Kohli made 100 not out as India overwhelmed the 242-run target with 7.3 overs to spare to register their second successive victory of the tournament.

Electing to bat, Pakistan made 241 before being all out with two deliveries left in their stop-start innings with Saud Shakeel (62) and Mohammad Rizwan (46) scoring the bulk of the runs.

Player of the match Kohli also became only the third batter, after compatriot Sachin Tendulkar and Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara, to complete 14,000 runs in ODIs, reaching the mark quicker than them.

"I think the way we started with the ball was superb," India captain Rohit Sharma said.

"To restrict them to that kind of score was a great effort from the bowling unit.

"We knew it would get slightly better to bat under lights... we backed the experience that we have in our batting line-up to go out there and get those runs."

India seamer Mohammed Shami began with an 11-ball over that included five wides after Pakistan captain Mohammed Rizwan won the toss and elected to bat.

Shami looked in discomfort in his third over and, replacing him, Hardik Pandya had Babar Azam (23) caught behind. Pakistan lost their other opener in the next over when Imam-ul-Haq departed run out.

Saud and Rizwan added 104 runs to steady Pakistan but Pakistan lost both their set batters after Axar Patel bowled Rizwan and took a catch to send back Saud.

Spinner Kuldeep Yadav (3-40) dismissed Salman Agha and Shaheen Afridi in successive