Image Credit- The Hindu
Venue- Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne [October 2022].
When I started this blog, I never thought about writing on T20 performances. However, there are some classics which one cannot ignore. One such classy performance was of our former skipper Virat Kohli. India-Pakistan is always a big game, and the intensity of the same rises even more in case of a World Cup match. Furthermore, in the previous world cup encounter Pakistanis had the better of Indians. Afterall for the first time in the history of World Cup they outclassed their arch-rival and that too by a big margin of 10 wickets. As a result, the Indian side wanted to redeem themselves. Whereas the Pakistanis wanted to replicate their Dubai's performance.
On a batting friendly wicket India won the toss and elected to field first. Arshdeep gave a wonderful start to the men in blue as he dismissed Babar for a duck and Rizwan for just 4. The Pakistani scorecard read 15/2 at the end of 4 hours. However, Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed held their nerves and scored wonderful half centuries. Due to their efforts the men in green reached a fighting total of 159/8 in their 20 overs.
160 is a fighting total in MCG. Furthermore, the bowling attack of the Pakistanis made it even tougher. In such a situation India needed a strong opening stand. However, the same did not happen. At the end of 6.1 overs the Indian scorecard read 31/4. It seemed that Pakistanis would hand one more humiliating defeat to the men in blues. Indian victory in such a situation appeared a distant dream.
That is when Virat Kohli came into the scene. Kohli along with Hardik Pandya batted sensibly and kept the scorecard moving. Not only they ensured that the men in Blue don't lose any more wicket, but they also hit the loose ball for boundaries. But, despite all this the Indians at one stage required 28 from 8 deliveries to win the game. However, what happened next was something truly unbelievable. Virat Kohli hit a straight six off Haris Rauf. It was such a classy shot of the King that it will be remembered for ages. In the very next ball, he hit one more six and the required rate came down to 16.
In the final over though India lost Pandya at the very first ball, but Kohli with his shots and cricketing brain ensured that India wins the game. Though the winning run was hit by Ashwin, but it was Kohli who anchored this chase.
For his extraordinary 82 of 53 balls Virat was awarded the man of the match award. A few months ago, critics were doubting Kohli's place in the world cup team, but here was the king who proved everyone wrong. The comeback was well and truly complete.
To watch King Kohli's classic knock, Click Here.
Thanks Bhai
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