Picture : Twitter/ ICC
In a match that was threatened by rain , India and Pakistan played out a thriller in front of the the packed 100,000 crowd at the MCG in Melbourne . In a gripping match that went down to the wire, India beat Pakistan by 4 wickets in the blockbuster encounter.
Earlier Rohit Sharma won the toss and asked Pakistan to bat first and make use of swing and movement early on . And his bowlers responded well Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh swung the ball and kept the Pakistan batsmen in check . Arshdeep Singh in T20 World Cup debut could not hoped for better start taking three . Including the Pakistan’s top two – Skipper Babar Azam ( 0) and Mohammad Rizwan ( 4) to jolt Pakistan early.
A packed MCG chanting for Virat Kohli 🏟
Raw vision: Behind the scenes of India’s sensational win 📹
Goosebumps. #T20WorldCup | #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/MNjmOLKO7r
— ICC (@ICC) October 23, 2022
But Pakistan fought back well through Shan Masood 52 (42 balls, 5 fours) and Iftikhar Ahmed 51 ( 34 balls , 3 fours and 4 four sixes) < But Pakistan after recovery suffered a middle order collapse as they lost wickets quickly . Shadab Khan ( 5) , Haider Ali ( 2), Mohammad Nawaz ( 9) , Asif Ali ( 2) , Shaheen Afridi hit a quick cameo 8 ball 16 as Pakistan finished at 159/ 8 in their 20 overs. A fighting total given their bowling unit
For India , Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/ 22 ( 4 overs) , Arshdeep Singh 3/32( 4 overs) , Mohammed Shami 1/ 25 ( 4 overs), Hardik Pandya 3/30 ( 4 overs) , Ravichandran Ashwin 0/ 23 ( 3 overs) , Axar Patel 0/21 ( 1 over)
In reply, India were bit tentative, opener K L Rahul’s poor form in big tournaments continued as he played on early for ( 4) , Skipper Rohit Sharma too did not last long fell for ( 4). India were rocked early . Suryakumar Yadav looked good but fell for ( 15 ) , Axar Patel was run- out for 2. India were in deep trouble at 31/4 in 6.2 overs. Then came the stand that put India back . A superb 113 run-stand.
But it was the imperious Virat Kohli who anchored Indian innings. In big match the superstar silenced doubters of his form with a majestic innings and an unbeaten one as well . Kohli was imperious in his 82 not out ( 53 balls, 6 fours , 4 sixes) and Kohli was there till the end when Ravichandran Ashwin hit the winning run needing one of the last ball to fashion an incredible win. A match India thought at one stage lost.
It started in the 19th over when Kohli sent one from Haris Rauf on his hunches and pulled off two back-to-back sixes.
With 16 needed off last six balls, Pandya holed out off Mohammed Nawaz’s bowling and with rule of crossover non existent, Dinesh Karthik faced his first delivery and took a single.
With 14 needed off three balls, Nawaz’s juicy full-toss was dispatched for a six over square leg and it was called a no-ball after deliberation by on-field umpires.
Nawaz, the hero of Pakistan’s Super 4 victory in the Asia Cup, by then had lost his nerves.
After Karthik was stumped by an alert Mohammed Rizwan, Nawaz bowled a wide and Ravichandran Ashwin scored the most important boundary of his career.
Kohli’s knock was praised by a delighted India skipper Rohit Sharma. Yeah, I think it has to go — definitely his best for sure, but I think from the situation we were in, and to come out with a victory, I think it has to be one of India’s best knocks, not just his best knock,” Rohit told media persons after India’s T20 World Cup win against Pakistan.
Kohli was soon mobbed by team- mates and skipper Rohit Sharma lifting him as well.
For Pakistan it was so near yet so close , Their bowling figures read, Shaheen Afridi 0/ 34 ( 4 overs), Haris Rauf 2/ 36 ( 4 overs) , Naseem Shah 1/ 23 ( 4 overs) , Shadab Khan 0/21 ( 4 overs) , Mohammad Nawaz 2/ 42 ( 4 overs)
