On This Day King Played an Innings of a Lifetime in T20 World Cup 2022 Against Pakistan At MCG
T20 World Cup 2022: Virat Kohli is known to be the master of the run chases at the international cricket level.
He has guided the men in blue side to many wins single-handedly across all three forms of this gentlemen’s game and even in a franchise league tournament like the Indian Premiere League (IPL).
Even in yesterday's encounter versus New Zealand, Virat played an excellent knock of 95 runs in the 21st match of the ODI World Cup 2023.
India won that match and also ended a losing streak of 20 years against the Blackcaps side in the events of the ICC.
Sourav Ganguly was the last Indian skipper to win against the Kiwis in ODI World Cup and Rohit Sharma joined Dada after India won by four wickets yesterday at HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala.
Indian Bowlers Successfully Restricted Pakistan To A Modest Total
India won the toss and opted to bowl first in their opening match of the T20 World Cup 2022 against Pakistan at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and this decision worked in the favour of the men in blue side as they started the contest really well.
The batters of the men in green had lost two wickets for just 15 runs inside four overs.
Pakistan was tottering at one stage when Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed slammed their half-centuries and rescued their side from a being in a reeling position.
That partnership between these two batters allowed Pakistan to score a modest score of 159 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted 20 overs quota.
India Too Didn’t Had A Great Start With The Bat
Chasing a modest total of 160 runs from 120 deliveries, Rohit Sharma and his men were at a spot of bother at one stage.
India had lost four quick wickets with just 31 runs on the scoreboard. The bowling has been the real strength of Pakistan and in this match, the pace battery of the men in the green side was all over the batters of men in blue side.
King Step Up And Played A Knock of Unbeaten 82 Runs From Just 53 Balls
It looked like India was down and out of the contest. But at that crucial time, Virat Kohli steadied the sinking ship with Hardik Pandya.
Virat Kohli launched himself on the big stage of the T20 World Cup 2022. He carried his innings quite brilliantly in the end. It was Kohli’s innings of a life time that made a huge difference in the end for Team India.
He was not over even after Kohli reached his half-century. He stayed till the end even when the task looked impossible. India needed 48 runs from 18 balls to snatch a win from Pakistan.
Kohli smashed Shaheen Afridi for three boundaries and brought the required runs to 31 from 12 balls.
Then Virat smashed a six straight down the ground to Haris Rauf. Kohli treated Rauf as a part-time spin bowler and he smashed another six over the fine leg region.
India still needed 16 from the last six deliveries. Kohli responded to that call with a six on the fourth ball of the last over.
Despite Hardik Pandya's and Dinesh Karthik's wickets, Virat was there in the company of Ravichandran Ashwin. Ash was credited for this huge win as he smartly took that wide off Nawaz, which gave India an extra ball and a run as well.
India won this match by four wickets and King Kohli was also given the player of the match award.
