India’s talismanic batsman Virat Kohli has played one of the best knocks at International cricket and he played another blinder against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday as India won their opening match of the T20 World Cup 2022 by four wickets.
Kohli scored a magnum opus knock of unbeaten 82 off just 53 balls to help his team cross the line in a humdinger contest.
India had their backs against the wall as they were reeling at 31-4 but Kohli and Hardik Pandya were able to bail their team out of the jail. The duo added 113 runs for the fifth wicket alliance to get their team back into the contest. Pandya scored 40 runs from 37 and it was the match-turning partnership, which brought the Men in Blue back into the game after a poor start.
Kohli scored two sixes against Haris Rauf in the penultimate over and it was the turning point of the game. The 32-year-old smashed Rauf over his head and then flicked one over deep fine leg to bring down the equation to 16 runs off the final over. It was an unbelievable knock from the right-hander as he won India the game from an impossible position.
Meanwhile, Kohli has always rated his Mohali knock against Australia in the 2016 T20 World Cup as his best knock in the format but feels this innings pips that in his list.
Kohli said after he was awarded the Player of the Match, “It’s a surreal atmosphere, I have no words, no idea how that happened. I am really lost for words. Hardik believed we can do it, if we stayed till the end. When Shaheen bowled from the pavilion end, that’s when we decided to take him down. Haris is their prime bowler, and I hit those two sixes. The calculation was simple. Nawaz had one over to the bowl, so they would panic if I could take Haris down. From 28 in 8, it came down to 16 to 6. I tried to stick to my instincts. The first one was the back of a hand-slower ball (the one over long-on). Standing here I just feel like it was meant to be. Till today Mohali was my best innings against Australia. Today I will count this one higher. Hardik kept pushing me. The crowd has been phenomenal. You guys (fans) kept backing me and I am grateful for your support.”
It was an ideal start for India and they will look to continue the good show in the upcoming matches.
India will take on the Netherlands at the SCG on Thursday.
