Kohli masterclass leads India to unthinkable WC win

Virat Kohli has orchestrated one of the greatest chases in T20 history with a sublime unbeaten 82 to lead India to victory over Pakistan in front of 90,293 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.  

Chasing 160 for victory, Kohli joined forces with Hardik Pandya (40 off 37) in a 113-run partnership that lifted India from nowhere to a four-wicket victory. 

The pair came together with their side in all sorts at 4-31 as Pakistan's pace attack caused havoc to the much-vaunted Indian top order. 

But despite requiring 12 runs an over for the final 10 overs, and 16 an over for the final three, Kohli found the boundaries (six fours, four sixes) at all the right times to claw his country over the line in an instant classic. 

 

India were on the brink, needing 28 runs from the final eight deliveries with Haris Rauf still to bowl two deliveries to close out his impressive spell. 

Kohli produced an unbelievable straight six with the first, powering a back-of-the-length slower ball over long on's head, despite the batting maestro appearing to lose his balance in the shot. 

He followed that with a flicked six over backward square leg which was met with a deafening roar as the mammoth crowd realised they were seeing something special.

 

Left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz was tasked with bowling the final over in which India needed 16 runs, with Babar Azam hesitant to go back to him after his third over, the 12th of the innings, cost 20 runs. 

Pandya skied a catch off the first ball of the over, but Kohli stood up again when he re-took strike, pummelling a waist-high full toss for six to reduce the equation down to six runs off three. 

But the drama didn't stop there. For the resulting free hit, Nawaz followed up with a wide, and then bowled Kohli off the following free hit, which saw the ball skid past third man and allow the batters to scamper back for three byes. 

Image Id: 23E980C178E94127943B2D64E554C743 Image Caption: Virat Kohli celebrates the winning moment // Getty

Two off two required, and another twist. Dinesh Karthik lost track of the ball after it was fired into his pads, allowing Rizwan to rip off the bails with his opposite number short of his ground. 

A super over was a strong chance with two needed off the final ball and Ravichandran Ashwin on strike.

However, Nawaz bowled a leg-side wide to level the scores and the MCG erupted when Ashwin popped the next delivery over mid off's head. 

In the post-match interview, Kohli rated it as his best knock in the format, narrowly nudging his match-winning performance against Australia in Mohali at the 2016 T20 World Cup. 

"Until today I’ve always said Mohali was my best innings," Kohli said after the stunning victory.

"I got 82 off 52 (against Australia) and today I got 82 off 53.

"But today, I will count this game higher because of the magnitude of the game and what the situation was. It seemed impossible."

Rauf brought the huge Melbourne crowd to life early in the chase with the two vital wickets of Rohit Sharma (four) and Suryakumar Yadav (15) to cripple the India chase. 

 

The right-arm quick knows the venue well, having played seven matches at the MCG across three seasons for the Melbourne Stars, in which he grabbed 11 wickets including a memorable hat-trick against the Sydney Thunder in BBL|09. 

India crawled to 4-42 at the halfway point of their innings after the promoted Axar Patel was run out after a mix up with Kohli, bringing Pandya to the crease.

Earlier, Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to chase, with the decision being immediately vindicated by his opening bowlers. 

23-year-old Arshdeep Singh needed only one delivery to make a huge impact, trapping Babar lbw first ball with a ball that swung in a considerable amount. 

 

The ball evoked memories of Shaheen Shah Afridi's dismissal of Rohit Sharma in the 2021 T20 World Cup which behaved in a similar manner.  

Number three Shan Masood was clearly feeling the pressure; after facing three dot balls to Arshdeep he hit the ball straight to Kohli at mid off and ran. Only Kohli's misdirected underarm saved the left hander from being run out for the duck. 

Arshdeep's next over showcased a lethal bouncer as well, which hurried Rizwan up and could only mistime his pull shot to Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the deep.  

Bhuvneshwar was causing all sorts of issues for Pakistan's top order and was unlucky not to take a wicket in the Powerplay. 

He beat the bat six times in his three-over opening spell, taking 0-14 including 13 dots balls.

Masood's charmed life continued when he got a life on 24 as Ashwin took a diving catch coming in from fine leg but replays showed the ball bounced just before it reached him. 

 

And it was potentially a third life when a miscue hit the 'spider cam' wire in the 15th over, which the Indians thought cost them a wicket. However, dead ball was called. 

With Pakistan on 2-60 after 10 overs, Iftikhar Ahmed changed the game with four sixes in six deliveries, one off Ashwin and three off Axar.

And then, the momentum changed again. Mohammed Shami got Iftikhar lbw (51 off 34 balls) to spark a collapse of three wickets in 11 balls.

A late flurry of runs (34 from the final three overs) came from the unlikely blades of Shaheen and Haris to get Pakistan up to 8-159.  

Men's T20 World Cup 2022

Australia squad: Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Aaron Finch (c), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

Australia's T20 World Cup 2022 fixtures

Oct 22: New Zealand defeat Australia by 89 runs

Oct 25: v Sri Lanka, Optus Stadium, 10pm AEDT

Oct 28: v England, MCG, 7pm AEDT

Oct 31: v Ireland, Gabba, 7pm AEDT

Nov 4: v Afghanistan, Adelaide Oval, 7pm AEDT

Click here for a full 2022 T20 World Cup fixture