Virat Kohli, KL Rahul shatter multiple records with tons against Pakistan, help India match 18-year-old feat

Rain may have played spoilsport on Sunday but fans were surely left mesmerised as Virat Kohli and KL Rahul combined to produce a top-notch effort against Pakistan in the Asia Cup, Super 4 encounter in Colombo on Monday, which is also the reserve day.

The proceedings, which were scheduled to start at 3:00pm once again met with a delay due to poor weather conditions, but what followed next was absolute carnage from arguably India's best batters at the R Premadasa Stadium.

Resuming India's innings from 147/2 after 24.1 overs, Kohli and Rahul made intentions clear right from the word go and kept the scoreboard moving briskly. The duo then went to slam their respective tons and returned unbeaten as they took India to a massive 356/2 in 50 overs. This is also India's joint-highest ODI total against the arch-rivals, matching India's total of 356/9, which they had achieved back in 2005 at Vishakhapatnam.

Kohli slammed 122* from 94 deliveries, which included nine 4s and three 6s. Rahul, who is playing his first match after returning from an injury, finished at 111* from 106 balls. His knock featured 12 boundaries and 2 maximums.

Together the pair added an unbeaten 233-run stand for the third wicket, which is also the highest by any pair in the history of Asia Cup. This is also the highest partnership by any Indian pair against Pakistan.

Highest partnership in ODI Asia Cup

233 - V Kohli & KL Rahul vs PAK, today*

224 - M Hafeez & N Jamshed vs IND, 2012

223 - S Malik & Younis Khan vs HK, 2004

214 - Babar & Iftikhar Ahmed vs NEP, 2023

Highest partnership for India vs Pakistan in ODIs:

233* - V Kohli & KL Rahul, Colombo (RPS), today* (3rd wkt)

231 - NS Sidhu & SR Tendulkar, Sharjah, 1996 (2nd wkt)

210 - S Dhawan & R Sharma, Dubai (DSc), 2018 (1st wkt)

201 - Rahul Dravid & V Sehwag, Kochi, 2005 (3rd wkt)

Meanwhile, Colombo continued to remain a happy hunting ground for Kohli as this was his fourth consecutive ODI ton at the venue. With this Kohli took his century tally to 47 in this format and he now stands only two centuries away from matching batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar's record.

Consecutive hundreds at the same venue in ODIs

4 - Hashim Amla, Centurion

4* - VIRAT KOHLI, Colombo RPS

3 - Zaheer Abbas, Lahore

3 - Saeed Anwar, Sharjah

3 - Sanath Jayasuriya, Sydney

3 - Quinton de Kock, Centurion

3* - Rohit Sharma, Birmingham

During the course of his knock, Kohli went to complete another milestone as he became the fastest batter to complete 13,000 runs in ODIs. Kohli achieved the feat in his 267th innings. He already is the fastest batter to reach 8000, 9000, 10000, 11000, and 120000 ODI runs.

Meanwhile, this was the fourth time when all the top four batters from India returned with a 50-plus score. While Kohli and Rahul slammed respective tons, India skipper Rohit Sharma and his opening partner Shubman Gill had given the side a superb start by stitching a 122-run stand for the opening wicket. Rohit was dismissed for 49-ball 56, while Gill got out for 58 off 52 deliveries.