A roller coster win against Pakistan gave India a thriller start in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. The entire cricketing world was astonished by Virat Kohli for his outstanding knock to give India a four wicket win at the MCG.
The God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, took it to his Twitter to express his admiration for King Kohli. He claimed it as his best innings of his life and was a treat to watch.
India restricted Pakistan to 159/8 and it looked like a comfortable chase until the Pak bowlers unleashed fury on the Indian batters. India was reduced to 31/4 with Kohli still struggling to get speedy runs.
However, Virat and Hardik started to get singles and doubles to keep the scoreboard rotating. Hardik kept encouraging Kohli to put up a huge partnership of 113 runs for the fifth wicket.
India required 48 runs in the last three overs which had a required run rate of 16 per over. This is when Kohli just blasted Pakistan bowlers with classy and mighty boundaries. This included the two sixes in the 19th over against Pak’s best bowler of the day, Haris Rauf.
This changed the course of the match and now it was India dominating the winning percentage in the game. The match got a little more intense in the last over when both Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik were dismissed. This brought the nail-biting moment in the game where India required 2 runs of the last ball. Ashwin ended things in the smartest way one can, lifting the ball over the mid-on.
However, it was Virat’s undisputed 82 off 53 which turned things around. He scored 11 runs in the first 20 balls whereas the next 71 runs in just 33 balls which included six fours and four massive sixes with a strike rate of 154.72.
This was the first thriller start for both India and Pakistan in the ICC T20 World Cup and a total dose of nail-biting entertainment for the spectators.