• Saturday, January 25, 2025

Sport

T20 World Cup: Why Pakistan match hero Virat Kohli thought he was messing the game up

Virat Kohli (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

By: Shubham Ghosh

Ace India batter Virat Kohli played one of the best knocks ever at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against arch-rivals Pakistan in his team’s opening match of the ongoing T20 World Cup by belting 82 not out in only 53 balls.

The 33-year-old led the Indian chase of a tricky target of 160 runs in 20 overs which looked even more daunting after the Men in Blue were reduced to 31 for 4 and were precariously placed at 45 for 4 after 10 overs.

A century-run partnership between Kohli and all-rounder Hardik Pandya (40 off 37) and a nervous-yet-steady finish saw India clinching the game in a dramatic last over with no delivery to spare.

Kohli himself had a slow start when Pakistan bowlers tightened the noose and at one point of time, could score only 12 runs off 21 balls.

He later shared his thought process as India went into an epic run chase after the match and said he thought at one point of time that he was “really messing” things up.

The player of the match told Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the marquee tournament, “When I was 12 off 21, I was like ‘I am really messing this game up. I am not putting ball in the gaps’. But when you have experience and understand the value of batting deep, that’s always been my role playing for India. I know that I can do a lot of the power-hitting towards the end of the innings.”

In the next 32 balls, Kohli slammed 71 runs and remained unbeaten.

The former India captain also praised Pandya, saying, “Honestly, I was feeling a lot of pressure at that stage. But then when he came in and he hit a few boundaries, I kind of opened up. That partnership, we didn’t even realise when we got to our 100. We kept talking, we kept running hard and kept watching their body language. We knew it would turn at some stage, it turned quite late to be honest. We would have liked to do it earlier.”

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