Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team defeated Mohammad Rizwan's Pakistan by 6 wickets match 5 of the ongoing edition of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 against Pakistan which is being played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, on February 23 (Sunday). Virat Kohli was the hero of the match with his historic 51st century and ensured that India will reach the semi-final of the mega tournament.
Now the question comes has India eliminated Pakistan after this spectacular win? To a surprise, the hosts are very much alive in the race to the semi-finals but it is only to a thin thread.
Can Pakistan still reach semi-finals?
This clash against India was Pakistan's second group-stage encounter before playing Bangladesh in the Champions Trophy final. The Men in Green lost the opening game against New Zealand by 60 runs, giving them a terrible start to the competition. However, despite this loss against the Men in Blue, Pakistan has not been immediately eliminated from the marquee competition.
The Men in Green must hope for some favourable outcomes after the embarrassing loss tonight. Now their last group-stage match has become a must-win for them to stay in the semifinal race.
However, Pakistan's Champions Trophy campaign will be officially finished with the loss tonight if New Zealand defeat Bangladesh tomorrow. In such a scenario, New Zealand and India will advance from Group A to the Champions Trophy semifinals right away. The hosts need to hope that both Bangladesh and India beat New Zealand in it next games. Then also Pakistan need to beat Bangladesh by a massive margin so their net run rate is better than New Zealand and Bangladesh.
India beat Pakistan
India came out to chase 242 runs and once again Rohit Sharma tried to give the team a good start. However, he could not do it for a long time as Shaheen Afridi dismissed him on the score of 20 off 15 balls. Later Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli joined 69 runs to further progress the Indian innings.
After that Kohli and Shreyas Iyer joined a match-winning stand of 114-run stand that ensured the Indian team would once again be playing the knockout stage in the Champions Trophy 2025. Shreyas Iyer and Hardik Pandya got out but India's win was ensured at that point.
Virat Kohli smashed his historic 51st century and became the second batter after Sachin Tendulkar to hit 51 centuries in a single format. Legendary Tendulkar achieved this in Test cricket while Kohli did it in ODIs. Kohli completed the century by hitting a match-winning century. This is also his first century in the Champions Trophy century.