India batter Virat Kohli continued his brilliance against Pakistan as he slammed an amazing 82* in 53 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes, helping India chase down a 160-run target against arch-rivals Pakistan in their T20 World Cup 2022 match at MCG on Sunday, October 23.
Thanks to half-centuries from Iftikhar Ahmed and Shan Masood, Pakistan posted 159/8 in 20 overs after being asked to bat first by Rohit Sharma. For India, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya picked three wickets each.
In reply, India teetered on 45/4 in 10 overs, but then a 113-run partnership between Hardik Pandya (40) and Kohli brought India back into the game.
With 48 runs needed off the last 18 balls, Kohli turned on his magic, hitting Shaheen for 3 fours in the 18th over, He then hit Haris Rauf for two sixes in the 19th over, bringing the equation down to 16 off the last 6 balls.
Mohammad Nawaz bowled an eventful last over with India winning on the last ball, despite losing two wickets in the over. Virat Kohli remained not out on 82 and was given the Player of the Match for his superlative innings.
Speaking to Hardik Pandya in a BCCI video, Kohli said the win over Pakistan was one of the most memorable nights of his life, insisting that he's never felt such emotions before.
"It is one of the most memorable nights of my life for sure. I've played for 15 years, I don't think I've experienced emotions like this before. Last time I experienced something like this was against Australia in Mohali. I was a bit emotional then but right now I'm numb, maybe because that was more like a quarter-final for us," said Kohli.
The former India captain stressed that the team knows that this was just the first game of the tournament.
"As happy and emotional as we are and the win will take some time to sink in, we understand as professionals that it's just one game, the first game. And why it's so special is because of the situation we were in, to be able to get these two points and get the first win is very crucial. We've seen before in the Asia Cup that if you fall behind once, it becomes very difficult to catch up. So starting right is very important and this has given us tremendous belief," Kohli added.
Kohli also praised Hardik Pandya for soaking up the pressure walking into bat at 31/4.
"Firstly, we had a great partnership. There was a lot of pressure. When Hardik came in to play, we were in a very difficult position. To be honest, I was feeling a lot of pressure because I've played in a lot of these matches before and I understand the expectations and the magnitude of the game. But he was very fearless in that partnership. When he came on to bat, he kept telling me to communicate, and we'd look to bat deep and build a partnership. He really kept me focused at that point because I wanted to hit a few big shots at the time, which could've been risky since we were already four wickets down," said Kohli.
Here is the video:
India will now play the Netherlands in Sydney on October 27.
