Virat Kohli rewinded the clock and provided a Mohali-like finish for the ages in India’s thrilling win over Pakistan at the start of his team’s T20 World Cup 2022 on October 23.
The former India skipper recovered from early jitters and went on to produce an unbeaten 82 off 53 balls to take India home in a run-chase of 160 runs.
Kohli’s impressive knock featured 6 fours and 4 sixes, including a pair of critical maximums off Pakistan’s dependable death-overs quick Haris Rauf in the 19th over to ease things up for the task.
India needed 16 off the last 6 balls facing left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, which the bowler found difficult to defend with a well-set Kohli at one end despite starting with the wicket of another of India’s batting hero Hardik Pandya on the first ball.
The equation came down to 1 off 1, and this is when the cool and composed head of R Ashwin drove Nawaz over the mid-off fielder for a boundary to seal the deal for India.
The Asian giants reached home on the final ball of the 20th over at six wickets down after losing their openers KL Rahul (4), Rohit Sharma (4), and key in-form batter Suryakumar Yadav early to be reduced to 26/3 in the 6th over.
Pakistan would be disappointed to have let India off the hook from there; they had the key to the winning door, but India stole the cheat code out of a superlative come-from-behind knock from Kohli, who was 12* off 21 at one stage, and Hardik’s aggressive start with the bat.
Rauf was the pick of their bowlers with 2 for 36, a spell that he got right for nearly its entirety until he conceded those two sixes to Kohli at the end of the penultimate over. Comeback seamer Naseem Shah (1/23) was another of his team’s positives.
Pakistan were found missing with bat in hand either side of an impressive partnership between their twin half-centurions Iftikhar Ahmed (51) and Shan Masood (52*) on a surface that offered Indian seamers bounce and late seam movement.
In what was almost a complete bowling performance by the Indians, their new-ball pairing of Arshdeep Singh (3/32) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/22) held Pakistan back early before Hardik (3/30) and Mohammad Shami (1/25) did the damage in the middle-overs.
Brief scores
Pakistan 159/8 in 20 overs (Masood 52*, Iftikhar 51; Hardik 3/30) lost to India 160/6 in 20 overs (Kohli 82*, Pandya 40; Rauf 2/36) by 4 wickets
