Highlights
- Kohli single-handedly powered India to epic 4-wicket win over Pak
- Soon after match, congratulatory messages from politicians began to surface, lauding Team India
- Perfect way to start T20 WC… Deepawali begins. What a cracking innings by Kohli, says Amit Shah
IND vs PAK T20 World Cup: India on Sunday defeated Pakistan in its opening match of T20 World Cup which can be summed up as a perfect nail-bitter. India won by 4 wickets in the last over which turned out to be a classic thriller and raised every spectator's heartbeat. The T20 World Cup is being held in Australia.
Soon after the match, congratulatory messages from politicians began to surface, lauding Team India for its spectacular victory.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah was among the first ones to congratulate the team saying, "A perfect way to start the T20 World Cup…Deepawali begins. What a cracking innings by Virat Kohli."
Chasing 160, India lost early wickets and was at the backfoot when it had 4 down with only 30 runs on the scoreboard.
But Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya took it up from there and gave India the partnership it needed. Kohli played a King's innings remaining not out at 82.
Virat Kohli owned the grand stage with a knock for the ages as he powered India to an epic four-wicket over Pakistan in a heart-stopping T20 World Cup game, that unfolded at the MCG 'amphitheatre' which was packed with 90,000 boisterous fans, on Sunday.
King Kohli, as his fans call him, conjured up a magical and memorable 83-run knock to anchor a chase of 160 which became tricky after India were left in tatters at 31 for 4. Hardik Pandya, the most important cog in India's T20 wheel, struck 40 off 37 balls in a partnership of 113.
His ability to win matches for India coming under the scanner due to a prolonged lean patch, Kohli sang the perfect redemption song on the grandest stage.
It started in the 19th over when he sent one from Haris Rauf on his hunches and pulled off two back-to-back sixes.
Cricket indeed is a leveller as Rauf, after 22 splendid deliveries bowled two bad ones and it changed the complexion of the game.
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.
'Chak De India' reverberating around the MCG never sounded sweeter and Kohli seemed numb. He punched ground, took a long walk back, showed thumbs up to the crowd having restored India’s supremacy at a global event. But the script could have gone awry.
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