Virat Kohli produced one of the finest cricket knocks of all time on Sunday against Pakistan in the 20-20 World Cup 2022. India were chasing a 160-run target against an outstanding Pakistan bowling line-up. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul felt the pressure in the middle and succumbed to that as well.
Both departed cheaply inside the first 4 overs. Suryakumar Yadav came out all guns blazing but couldn’t last too long either. Haris Rauf got him out with an absolute peach of a delivery to leave India reeling at 26 for 3, which later became 31 for 4 when Axar Patel got run out.
Virat Kohli then joined hands with Hardik Pandya and the duo put on a 100-run association to take India back into the game. They didn’t take too much risk against the pacers and went on a leather hunt once the spinners came into the attack.
However, the required rate was still a lot as 28 runs were needed in the last 8 balls. Kohli then hit two back-to-back sixes to bring the equation down to 16 needed off the final over.
Bowling the final over, M Nawaz had Hardik Pandya on the very first ball and later got the wicket of Dinesh Karthik on the penultimate ball as well. With 2 runs needed in the final ball, Ashwin came to the crease.
He looked cool as a cucumber and didn’t succumb to pressure. Virat Kohli told him to hit the ball over the covers but Ashwin had the presence of mind to not give himself room and remain still. Nawaz ended up bowling a wide down the leg side and the equation came down to 1 needed off 1 ball.
Ashwin then hit the ball over mid-off to seal the win for the team. After the match, Virat Kohli heaped praise on the Indian spinner on how he dealt with the pressure and carried his team home. Here’s what he had to say about the Indian spinner.
Kohli said, “Ash ko maine bola ki, you know, covers k upar maar k dekhna. Lekin, Ash ne apna dimag ke upar dimag lagaya. Aur that was very brave thing to do, you know, remained inside the line, wide karwa di. Uske bad toh situation ye rahi ki gap me gayi toh jeet jaege.”
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— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) October 24, 2022
(“I told Ash to play it over the covers, but Ash used extra mind and turned the ball into a wide. Which was a very brave thing to do, you know, he remained inside the line and got that wide. So, in the last ball he just had to hit the ball in a gap to ensure victory”.)
