MELBOURNE: In a tense match against Pakistan for the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya kept their composure to lead India to a dramatic victory by four wickets.
Kohli’s blaster innings led India to supreme victory against Pakistan
Ravichandran Ashwin worked the ball over the mid-off fielder to snare the match-winning run for his side, and India finished at 160/6 in their allotted 20 Overs to complete the chase.
India’s attempt to chase down the target got off to a terrible start as they lost four wickets for just 31 runs in the seventh over.
After the slump, veteran Indian batsman Kohli and all-rounder Pandya put together an incredible 113-run partnership for the fifth wicket, which served as the foundation for the run chase.
In the 78-ball partnership, Kohli was the primary aggressor and reached his fifty in the 18th Over.
Then, to put Pakistan on the defensive, he faced up against one of Pakistan’s top death-over bowlers, Haris Rauf, for 15 runs in the 19th Over.
The set batter, Pandya, was struck out by the first ball of Mohammad Nawaz’s final over, which got off to an exciting start.
He hit two sixes and a boundary in his 40 off 37 balls.
India required six runs off three deliveries after Kohli drove a waist-line no ball from Nawaz on the third delivery out of the ground, setting up the exciting final over.
Nawaz castled Kohli after delivering a wide on the free knock, but the Indian batters gained three runs on the deflection.
On the second-to-last delivery, left-arm spinner Nawaz misled India’s Dinesh Karthik, and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan ran him out.
India needed just one run in the tense final delivery, and Ashwin kept his composure to work the ball over the in-ring fielder and secure India’s triumph.
With his masterful knock of 82 off just 53, which included six boundaries and four sixes, Kohli led the way for India and continued to go unbeaten.
Nawaz and Haris each took two wickets for Pakistan, and Naseem Shah knocked out a batter.
After initial losses, Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed shone with brilliant half-centuries as Pakistan achieved a solid 160-run target.
When the Green Shirts were down to 15/2 after the first four overs, Iftikhar hit a magnificent 34-ball 51 that included four enormous sixes and two fours, while Shan played a brave 52 not out off 42 that included five boundaries.
Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, had a terrible start to the game after being dropped by Arshdeep Singh in the second over. In his subsequent over, the left-arm bowler dismissed Mohammad Rizwan, who was rated No. 1, when he top-edged the ball while trying a hook shot.
However, Shan and Iftikhar served as the backbone of Pakistan’s innings, putting up a brave partnership of 76 runs for the third wicket to push the score to 91/2 in just 9.2 overs when Iftikhar was bowled by Shami after reaching fifty.
The batting side experienced another dip after the dismissal, losing wickets at regular intervals as the following four batters failed to reach double figures.
The all-rounder Hardik Pandya quickly dismantled the middle order, taking three cheap wickets—Shadab Khan (5), Haider Ali (2), and Mohammad Nawaz (9)—while Arshdeep returned Asif Ali, who had only made two runs off three deliveries.
Haris Rauf also smashed a six in the penultimate over to push Pakistan to 159/8 in the allocated 20 overs, but Shaheen Afridi made a late cameo and smacked a big six and a four during his quickfire 8-ball 16 before he was caught and bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
