Star India batter Virat Kohli returned to his beast mode with a stunning ODI hundred against Pakistan. He scored his 51st century in the format. After the bowlers did a great job, Kohli sealed Pakistan’s fate with his unbeaten 100 off 111.

“To be honest, it feels good to be able to bat in that manner in an important game to seal qualification. Feels good to contribute in a game where we lost Rohit early, had to put in the understanding of what we learnt in the last game,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation.

“My job was to control the middle overs against the spinners without taking too many risks, towards the end Shreyas accelerated and I got a few boundaries as well. It allowed me to play my usual ODI game. I have a decent understanding of my game, it is about keeping the outside noise away, staying in my space and taking care of my energy levels and thoughts,” he further added.

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Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma got out early and after his dismissal, Shubman Gill, recently became the No.1 ODI batter in the world, took on Shaheen Afridi in the PowerPlay. India scored 64/1 in 10 overs with Gill getting a run-a-ball 35. And, played well with Kohli as well.

“Having clarity is important, it was important to understand that you need to get runs when there is pace on the ball, otherwise the spinners can dictate things. Shubman did well against Shaheen, took him up. There’s a reason he’s the number one batter of the world. It was necessary to get about 60-70 runs in the powerplay, or we’d always be chasing the game. And there Shreyas is really coming into his own at number 4. Did well in India, and now out here as well,” Kohli offered.

“To be honest, at 36, it feels really good. Will put my feet up for a few days as it takes a lot out of me to put that kind of effort into every game,” Virat Kohli concluded.