Diwali arrived early in India as batting superstar Virat Kohli produced one of his career-best knocks of all-time to help the Indian cricket team script a brilliant 4-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in a thrilling last-ball encounter at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Virat Kohli, who played like a lone warrior today, helped the Men in Blue snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in a run-chase that will be remembered for ages to come.
Earlier Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to field first. Arshdeep Singh gave a brilliant start to the Indian side by picking the wicket of Babar Azam for a first-ball duck and then sent back Mohammad Rizwan cheaply as well. Then Iftikhar Ahmed (51) and Shan Masood added 76 runs for the third wicket to bring momentum to the game. However, Mohammad Shami got Iftikhar’s wicket by LBW to end his dangerous innings.
Hardik Pandya came into play and he just stole the show with his stunning performance. He picked the important wickets of Shadab Khan (5) and Haider Ali (2) in the same over and then also accounted for Mohammad Nawaz for 9 runs, who looked dangerous.
Later, while chasing the target of 160 runs, the Indian cricket team started off in a worst-possible manner as they lost both openers and were dismissed for single-digit scores by Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf. Suryakumar Yadav, who was expected to play a crucial knock, was dismissed by Rauf after playing a knock of 15 after the in-form Indian batter looked in glorious touch.
Things took an ugly turn as Axar Patel was dismissed for a knock of 2 as his promotion backfired on the team. Now as the Indian side took a backseat in the game, Virat Kohli was still fighting and was still keeping everyone’s hopes alive. He put up a 100-run partnership with Hardik Pandya. Kohli put up a stellar show, that will be remembered till the end of time as he brought the team back into the game by taking on Pakistan’s leading pacers Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf.
He took the Indian cricket team to the victory lines with his sensational knock of 82 runs off 53 balls, smashing 6 fours and 4 sixes. He was awarded the Man of the Match for his terrific effort with the bat.
Meanwhile, Virat was an emotional man after the match. He had tears in his eyes as he expressed his emotions after helping the Indian side win this important game. Virat also termed this knock as his best T20 innings. He said:
“It is a surreal atmosphere, I have no words, no idea how that happened. I am really lost for words. Hardik believed we can do it, if we stayed till the end. When Shaheen bowled from the pavilion end, that is when we decided to take him down. Haris is their prime bowler, and I hit those two sixes. From 28 in 8, it came down to 16 to 6. I tried to stick to my instincts. The first one was back of a hand slower ball (the one over long-on). Standing here I just feel like it was meant to be. Till today Mohali was my best T20I innings. Today I will count this one higher. Hardik kept pushing me. The crowd has been phenomenal. You guys (fans) kept backing me and I am grateful for your support,”
