Cricket World Cup 2019: Virat Kohli reaches milestone as India crush Pakistan to stay unbeaten
India continued their unbeaten swagger through the 2019 World Cup as skipper Virat Kohli further cemented his status as an all-time ODI great.
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Virat Kohli became the fastest player to reach 11,000 one-day international runs India crushed Pakistan in a rain-hit World Cup clash against Pakistan at Old Trafford.
The 30-year-old reached the landmark in his 222nd innings, surpassing Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar, who crossed the 11,000-run mark in 276 innings in 2002.
Kohli, in his 230th ODI, made 77 off 65 deliveries - his 92nd 50-plus score since making his debut against Sri Lanka in 2008.
“Virat’s consistency is just ridiculous. The ultimate yard stick for batting greatness,” former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar wrote on Twitter.
Kohli, who was also the fastest to 10,000 runs - a milestone he achieved in October last year - is the ninth international batsman and the third Indian to join the elite list.
Rohit Sharma scored his second hundred in three innings as India maintained their unbeaten record against Pakistan at the World Cup with an 89-run win under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.
Sharma’s 140 was the centrepiece of a total of 5-336.
Victory saw India, who have now won all seven of their World Cup matches against Pakistan, remain unbeaten after four pool games at this year’s edition.
“We have played good cricket, if you focus on this game too emotionally things can get haywire,” Kohli said.
“We cannot approach it like fans, as cricketers you have to understand what needs to be done on the field.
“Rohit’s knock was outstanding but to get to 330 you need a team effort and that is exactly what happened.”
Pakistan, whose only 2019 pool win so far was a shock defeat of hosts England, were never truly up with the rate in the showpiece match of the 10-team round-robin stage.
They still had hope at 1-117 even though the most made by any side batting second to win a World Cup match is Ireland’s 7-329 against England at Bangalore in 2011.
But Kuldeep Yadav then struck twice to spark a collapse that saw Pakistan lose four wickets for 12 runs in 18 balls as they slumped to 5-129 in 27 overs - long past the 20-over cut-off point needed for a result under D/L.
A third rain stoppage came with Pakistan 6-166 off 35 overs. The match then descended into something of a farce when play resumed under leaden skies, with Pakistan requiring an outlandish 136 more runs in five overs to reach a revised victory total of 302 in 40 overs.
That target which, eventually became 94 off the last six balls, unsurprisingly proved beyond them as Pakistan finished on 6-212, dealing a major blow to their semi-final hopes.
Criticised for opting to bowl first, Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed said: “We had a plan to pitch it up but we didn’t hit the right areas.
“We didn’t capitalise on winning the toss and conceded too many runs. We lost so many wickets in two or three overs and that is what cost us the match.
“It is tough. We have four matches left and we will try our level best to win them all.”
Originally published as Cricket World Cup 2019: Virat Kohli reaches milestone as India crush Pakistan to stay unbeaten
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