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Right-handed batter Virat Kohli produced a masterclass on Sunday as he played an unbeaten knock of 82 to help Team India chase down 160 with four wickets in hand against Pakistan in a Super 12 Group 2 clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. For the majority of the chase, India were on the backfoot, but Virat upped the ante in the final overs against the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah and Mohammad Nawaz. In the final over, India needed 16 runs to win, and the side was able to achieve the target on the final ball of the match.
India captain Rohit Sharma was in awe of Virat’s knock, and said that this was the best knock played by the batter while representing India.
“Hardik and Virat have played number of games for India. Taking the game deep was very critical. It was good for our confidence, always nice to get off the mark in your first game. And, the way we won is more pleasing to us. We were in no position to get that target, but hats off to Virat, it has to be his best innings that he has played for India,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation.
“We always wanting to stay in the game as long as possible, that was the message and that was the idea. You have to back yourself no matter what the situation is and that is what happened. That crucial partnership between Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya, 100-run stand was the game-changing moment. The pitch had something, there was some carry and I thought our bowlers utilised really well. That was good to see from bowling perspective. I think Pakistan batted well in the middle phase of the game, once the first half of the innings was over, we knew it would not be an easy chase for us,” he added.
Chasing 160, India were 31/4 in the 7th over of their chase, and it was then that Virat and Hardik joined forces and the duo put on 113 runs for the fifth wicket.
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Hardik was dismissed in the final over after playing a knock of 40 runs off 37 balls. The final over was bowled by Mohammad Nawaz.
Earlier, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya took three wickets each as India restricted Pakistan to 159/8.
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