Asia Cup 2023: After Premadasa high, India face the hard yards

Virat Kohli celebrates his century yesterday. Pic/AFP

At 10:02 pm on Monday, some 31 hours and two minutes after the first ball had been bowled the previous afternoon, the final ball of the 20th over of Pakistan's chase was sent down by Kuldeep Yadav. It was an uneventful delivery - a single to long-off for Agha Salman - but it ensured that the reserve day that was pencilled in at the last minute for only this Super Four game of the Asia Cup served its purpose.

No matter what happened from that point on, there would be a winner; the odds at that time favoured India, who had ridden on blazing centuries from Virat Kohli and the returning KL Rahul to amass 356 for two in 50 overs. At the time of going to press, Pakistan were 96 for five at the conclusion of 24 overs. India's pacers making the most of the generous seam assistance to fire out the top order. Hardik Pandya landed the big fish, producing a wonderful break-back to castle Babar Azam, after Jasprit Bumrah had breathed fire in a terrific five-over opening burst in his first ODI since July last year.

Kohli and Rahul took Pakistan apart during a record stand of 233 at the R Premadasa Stadium, India's highest for any wicket in Asia Cups. It was Kohli's fourth consecutive ton at the venue and took him to within two of Sachin Tendulkar's record 49 tons; during his unbeaten 122, he also became the fastest to 13,000 ODI runs.

Also read: As an all-rounder, I carry double or triple workload compared to specialists: Hardik Pandya

While the reserve day brought about the desired outcome, India will be playing for a third successive day when they take on Sri Lanka on Tuesday. It's hardly an ideal scenario this close to the World Cup, though by taking the field not long after the start of Pakistan's chase, Kohli and Rahul - who kept wickets from the sixth over - showed that they were none the worse for having run numerous twos on the vast Premadasa outfield.

SL are sitting on a 13-match winning streak and have bowled out all opponents during that period. India will face a stiff test, as much of their fortitude and stamina as their all-round skills that were on full view on Sunday and Monday.

267
Total number of innings taken by Virat Kohli to score 13,000 ODI runs, fastest by any batsman