India set a massive target of 357 runs for Pakistan during their Super Four clash in the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Monday.
Amid all the rain and other distractions, the Indian batters showed great resilience and tackled the Pakistani pace attack aggressively after failing badly in their group-stage encounter in Kandy — which ended in no result due to rain.
Openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill laid a foundation for their middle order with their century stand in the starting 15 overs.
After the openers were gone, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli started their innings on Sunday before the match was called off due to rain.
However, the play resumed on Monday with Rahul and Kohli taking charge against the Pakistani bowlers.
As Haris Rauf was ruled out of today's game as a precautionary measure, the two batters took full advantage of that and hit the opponents all over the ground.
Both of them completed their centuries, taking India to a massive total of 356 in 50 overs, registering their highest-ever score against Pakistan in ODI cricket.
Rahul and Kohli registered an unbeaten 233-run partnership, the biggest in the Asia Cup history.
The duo surpassed Pakistan's Nasir Jamshed and Mohammad Hafeez's 224-run partnership, which came against India in Asia Cup 2012.
Kohli remained unbeaten on 122 runs in 94 balls with the help of nine fours and three sixes.
Meanwhile, Rahul was not out on 111 runs in 106 balls which included 14 boundaries.
It must be noted that the play between Pakistan and India was resumed on reserve day on Monday as the match was called off on Sunday due to rain.
By the time this story was filed, Pakistan was batting at 96-5 in 24 overs.
Lineups
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf