Kohli masterclass powers India to thrilling win over Pak

Virat Kohli produced one of the most memorable knocks in the history of the T20 World Cup and powered India to a dramatic four-wicket win over arch rivals Pakistan in an epic clash at Melbourne. Kohli’s sparkling innings not only steered India to a historic victory but also enabled the ‘Men in Blue’ to exact full toll on the ‘Men in Green’ who had hammered them by10-wickets in last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE. King Kohli’s splendid unbeaten fifty was a masterclass in T20 batting. Just the cold statistic of scoring 82 runs off 53 balls in a tight, tense battle reflects the quality of the knock. But far more than the runs scored, was the manner in which Virat paced his entire innings and shifted gears when the going got really tough in the final overs. Though Pakistan had set a rather modest 160 target in Sunday’s showdown, it became far tougher as India lost skipper Rohit Sharma (4), KL Rahul (4), Suryakumar Yadav (15) and Axar Patel (2) in quick succession. With India tottering at 31 for 4, Pakistan seemed clear favourites as their fearsome bowling attack was firing on all cylinders.

It was from this precarious condition that Virat had to revive India’s rapidly sinking fortunes. In all-rounder Hardik Pandya, Kohli found a partner to pull India out of disarray and despair. The situation needed something special and the former skipper Kohli stitched up a magnificent fifthwicket stand of 113 from 78 balls. The duo began the repair job with singles and twos and as they settled down, the big shots began to flow. Particularly memorable was the 12th over of left arm spinner Nawaz where Hardik and Kohli hit three majestic sixes and stole 20 invaluable runs. The tide had begun to turn. Despite the recovery engineered by Kohli’s aggression and Pandya’s pluck, Pakistan still had the edge for most of the chase and were favourites to win till the 15th over. As the Kohli-Pandya duo could only muster 12 runs combined in the 16th and 17th overs, the odds seemed stacked even further. Kohli, however, had different ideas and his steely resolve and sheer brilliance in the final few overs ultimately helped India to turn the tables.

 With 48 needed from the last three overs, Kohli shifted gears flawlessly. He hit three fours off Shaheen Afridi in the 18th over which saw him complete a 43-ball fifty. Then in the 19th over, he scored two successive and glorious sixes off Haris Rauf – the first a massive straight hit over long-on and the second a majestic flick over deep fine leg. In the final over by spinner Nawaz, Virat cracked his fourth six as India scrambled to a nailbiting win off the last ball! Besides the whole world applauding his exceptional genius, Virat himself rated this as his ‘best innings ever’. In India-Pakistan rivalry, this Kohli knock will rank as high as Javed Miandad’s historic last ball six in 1986 that took Pakistan to a famous win. Clearly, King Kohli will always be one of the finest to play the game and a classy cricketer who makes us proud to be Indians!!