Adelaide:
Virat Kohli became the first Indian batsman to score a century against Pakistan in a World Cup match, as he made a crafty 107 at the Adelaide Oval here today.
En route his 22nd One-Day International century, Kohli surpassed retired batting legend Sachin Tendulkar’s 98 in 2003 edition as the highest score by an Indian in a World Cup match against the arch-rivals.
Kohli also joined Sourav Ganguly as the second-highest ever century maker for India in ODIs with only Tendulkar (49) ahead of him.
His innings today came off 126 deliveries and included eight boundaries.
It was a patient but authoritative knock from Kohli, where he built his innings brick-by-brick rather than playing scintillating shots. It wasn’t a flurry of boundaries but liberal sprinklings of ones and twos with the boundaries interspersed in-between.
The 26-year-old also put on a crucial 129-run second wicket stand with Shikhar Dhawan (73) before coupling with Suresh Raina (74) for the third wicket to yield another 110 runs, to take India to a competitive 300 for seven.
