Dubai, Feb 23: Virat Kohli surpassed Mohammad Azharuddin to hold the record for the most catches as a fielder for India in ODIs with 158 catches during the Champions Trophy 2025 Group A clash against Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.

Kohli, 36, took the catch of Naseem Shah, off Kuldeep Yadav’s delivery in the 47th over to reach the record. He also went on to take the catch of Khushdil Shah in the final over to better his tally.

Mohammad Azharuddin (156), Sachin Tendulkar (140), Rahul Dravid (124), and Suresh Raina (102) are the others on the elite list.

Kohli, who is also the third-highest scorer in the format behind Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara, is just 15 runs away from reaching the elusive 14,000 ODI run milestone.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Pakistan's batters got off to a good start but struggled to maintain a solid run rate, with a 104-run stand between Saud Shakeel (62) and Mohammad Rizwan (46) being the only prominent feature of their innings, though it came at a snail’s pace. From 151-2, Pakistan looked prime to go beyond 250, but India triggered a batting meltdown to bowl them out for 241.

Alongside Virat, spinner Kuldeep also etched his name in the record books by becoming the fifth Indian spinner to claim 300 international wickets. The 30-year-old from Kanpur joined the ranks of legendary spinners Anil Kumble, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, and Ravindra Jadeja.

Kuldeep reached the milestone after dismissing Salman Ali Agha for his 300th wicket in the 43rd over.

India will be hoping to complete the 242 run chase that stands in between them and a semi-final spot in the tournament. The Rohit Sharma led side had successfully chased a target of 229, on the same venue, in their opening game against Bangladesh but will have to survive the opening spell of lethal left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi and young pacer Naseem Shah alongside dangerous leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed.

--IANS

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