India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup: ‘One of the memorable partnerships’, Kohli cherishes match-winning stand with Rahul

India established themselves as firm favourites for an eighth Asian title when they pummeled Pakistan by a record margin of 228 runs in their Asia Cup 2023 Super Four match in Colombo on Monday.

In a fixture that ended up spanning two days after incessant rain on Sunday forced the match to be moved to the Reserve Day, India posted a mammoth 356/2 after being invited to bat before restricting Pakistan to a modest 128.

Virat Kohli and the returning KL Rahul made merry against a Pakistan attack that had blown the Indian top-order away in the Group A clash in Pallekele on 2 September but struggled badly at the R Premadasa Stadium. Both Kohli (122 not out) and Rahul (111 not out) brought up their centuries and stitched an unbroken 233-run stand for the third wicket to help the Men in Blue post the highest total of the tournament so far.

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Though Kohli finished as the top-scorer thanks to a late burst in the slog overs, he had played second fiddle to Rahul to a majority of the innings. Rahul got going with a couple of boundaries on Sunday, and it was him who decided to shift gears after a cautious start on Monday.

“Today was a classic example of you don’t get off to a good start… KL started better, I was trying to bring him on strike and playing second fiddle. And yes, then after that I stepped up where I could,” Kohli, who was adjudged the Player of the Match, said during the post-match presentation ceremony.

Kohli added that neither him nor Rahul had put much thought into the partnership that had already put the game beyond the Pakistanis’ reach.

“Both KL and myself are both conventional players. And when you have him batting the way he was and me playing, its tough to break these partnerships because we don’t play fancy shots. We didn’t think about the partnership too much, the idea was to ‘keep batting.’ It is one of the memorable partnerships we’ve had and for Indian cricket as well,” added Kohli.

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India skipper Rohit Sharma, meanwhile, revealed that Rahul was a last-minute inclusion into the Indian XI for the Super Four clash.

“Looking at how we batted, there were lot of positives. And then Virat and KL obviously. We know it was a typical Kohli innings, brilliantly paced. Very happy for KL… last minute change. Not easy coming from injury. Five minutes before the toss we had to tell him to play… not easy to come out in those circumstances,” said Rohit, who struck an attacking 56 earlier on Sunday to set the tone for the Men in Blue.

A disappointed Pakistan captain Babar Azam, meanwhile, felt his team simply did not show up on the day after an excellent display with the ball on the previous Saturday.

“Weather was not in our hands but we tried our best. We were not up to the mark with our batting and bowling. They (Indian openers) had plans for our bowlers and started well and that was followed up by Virat and Rahul. Jasprit and Siraj bowled well in the first 10 overs and swung the ball both ways, but our batting was not up to the mark,” said Babar, who was dismissed for 10 off Hardik Pandya’s bowling.