Former India opener Gautam Gambhir lauded Virat Kohli’s superlative 82* against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2022 win at MCG on Sunday, October 23, as his best knock in T20Is, even surpassing his innings against Australia in the 2016 T20 World Cup in Mohali.
Kohli hit six fours and four sixes, including one in the final over off a no-ball from Mohammad Nawaz, to end up with an unbeaten 82 off 53 balls. Many compared this knock of his against the one he played versus Australia where he had made 82* in Mohali during a similar chase with MS Dhoni for company.
"Finishing it off, probably literally getting more than 50% of the run. So it has to be up there probably better than the Mohali innings because if you see the magnitude, the conditions, the pressure, this was much more," Gautam Gambhir told broadcasters Star Sports.
Chasing 160, India was reeling at 31 for 4 in 6 overs but Kohli and Hardik Pandya (40) stitched 113 runs for the fifth wicket to keep India in the hunt. However, Kohli turned it on in the last three overs, first hitting Shaheen Afridi for two fours and then smacking Haris Rauf for 2 back-to-back sixes in the 19th over when 31 were needed off the last 12 balls.
His first six against Rauf, a lofted backfoot straight drive over the long-on boundary happened to be lauded unanimously as perhaps the best shot Kohli has ever played. Gambhir also praised that particular shot of the former India captain, calling it the shot of the tournament.
"It was probably the shot of the tournament. That shot under pressure. It was not that he just played the shot. You knew that if he had not hit that ball out of the ground, India would have been under serious pressure because 28 off 8, you are looking at a defeat. Playing that shot under pressure against Haris Rauf. It's just the quality of that shot. You can't explain that shot," Gambhir added.
