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Virat Kohli (Player of the Match): "First of all, thank you. It feels good to be able to bat in that manner in an important game. We wanted to seal our spot into the Semis and to be able to contribute in a situation like that where we lost Rohit early. My job was pretty close. I wanted to control the middle overs, to try and take on the seam bowlers. I didn't want to take any risks and at the end I had a great partnership with Shreyas Iyer. It was more or less the way I play ODI cricket, I was very happy with the template that was set for me.

I think for me, I have a decent understanding of my game over the years. For me, I just want to keep the outside noise away from myself. I try to stay in my space as much as possible. I really try to take care of my cricket. My job is to focus on my skill. I try to do the job for my team. I kept telling myself in the field, whenever I was feeling down, I wanted to put my 100% on every ball that I field and sometime I will definitely get the rewards for my hard work. When you put your head down and work hard enough, god will always reward you. I am very grateful and thankful to god.

I think clarity is very important. One thing you need to understand that is when there is pace on the ball, you need to play your shots and keep the game moving. If you don't score runs against the seamers, the spinners will make it difficult for you. Rohit gave a blistering start. Shubman kept going after Shaheen. If you don't get 60-70 in the powerplay, then you are always chasing the game. I think the way those two batters are setting up the platform for us, it's helping us a lot.

As I said about Shubman. There is a reason why he is the Number 1 ODI batter in the world. Shreyas has come of age at Number 4. 500 odd runs in the Cricket World Cup'23 and then he continues his good form here as well. Everyone has got a decent knock for us so far and we want to take that momentum into the upcoming matches.

(On the 1 week break before the next game) To be honest, at the age of 36, it's very good. I don't know about the 23s but for me it's very good. I just need to put my feet up for two days because it takes a lot out of me to put my 100% on the field every time I step onto the field."

Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan Captain): "We won the toss but didn't get the benefit of the toss. In meeting last night, we decided that 280 is enough on this pitch. Their bowlers did a very good job in the middle overs and got wickets.

Basically, that's what me and Saud were trying to do. We wanted to take it deep. You can say that it was a bad shot selection from us. They put us under pressure and restricted us to 240.

When you lose, you can say that you didn't perform in this and that department. They put us under pressure. We tried to put on the squeeze with the ball but they played really well. If you look at Gill's innings, they took the game far away from us.

We need to improve in our fielding. If you see other teams, you can't compete against them. We made the same mistakes in the last match as well. And we did the same mistakes today as well. We have to improve."

Rohit Sharma (India Captain): "Yeah absolutely. I think the way we started with the ball was just superb. To restrict them to that kind of a score was a brilliant effort from us. We knew that it will get slightly better to bat under the lights also it will play a bit slower but we kept backing our boys to play freely and they delivered for us. 

Well, I feel the credit goes to guys like Axar, Kuldeep & Jadeja. They have played a lot of cricket in this format and they know what needs to be done with the ball in hand. Rightly so, they stitched a very good partnership at the middle, Rizwan and Saud Shakeel. It was important for us, not to let the game drift away. We wanted to stay there as long as possible and again, the experience comes into play from the three spinners. Not to forget the way Hardik, Harshit and Shami bowled as well. So, it was an entire bowling unit performance for us. Everyone came to the party and did exactly what was required of them on that pitch.

Yeah absolutely. I think a lot of credit goes to the players as well. These bunch of boys have been brilliant. We have played a lot of cricket together and they do understand, what kind of job is required out of them. It can be quite tricky at times where some guys won't be able to bowl full 10 overs as we have 6 bowlers, so it's important to know what is required on that day from the surface and that is what I try and look into. Everyone will have different days but it was Axar & Kuldeep who stepped up today.

(On Virat Kohli) Nah, look, he loves representing the country more importantly. He wants to be out there, playing for the team. That's exactly what he did out there. Over the years we have seen it with him. People sitting inside the dressing room are not surprised with that innings from Kohli. You know it was good for him to be able to be out there, see the game off and couple of crucial knocks from the other guys as well. 

(On his hamstring) Yeah, it was the hamstring but it's okay at the moment."

Virat Kohli's century just put the icing on the cake for India as they thumped Pakistan comprehensively in Dubai. Kohli broke multiple records during his masterclass knock and hammered the neighbours yet again. The Rohit Sharma-led side continues their dominance in ODIs and is top of Group A with two huge wins. 

Pakistan, on the other hand, are in serious danger of an early exit in a tournament they are hosting. They are hanging by threads and will hope for a Bangladesh victory tomorrow against New Zealand. Else, it's clear as daylight!

That is the end for tonight! We will be back tomorrow again with more action. For now, this is me AkshayaKrishna Polya, signing off on behalf of my co-commentators Akshay Bhide and Pritam Dey and scorer/analyst Raju Khariya, who brought you all the live-action of this box office. We will meet again. Until then, it's cheers!