Virat Kohli produced one of the best knocks in the history of the game in a 20-20 World Cup encounter against Pakistan on Sunday in Melbourne. Riding on his 82-run knock in just 53 balls, India managed to chase down a 160-run target on the last ball of the second innings.
The match was evenly poised with 16 runs needed in the final over. Bowling the last over, M Nawaz picked the wicket of Hardik Pandya on the very first ball but couldn’t help his team win. Virat Kohli hit a six off a no-ball and Nawaz erred in his lengths several times. With 1 runs needed in 1 ball, Ashwin hit the ball over mid-off to seal the win.
The Pakistan left-arm spinner received a lot of criticism from the fans but skipper, Babar Azam supported him to the hilt.
In a video shared by the Pakistan Cricket Board, Azam can be heard saying, “No one should point fingers on one person, this should not happen, not in this team. As a team we have lost, as a team we will win. We have to stick to together, remember that. We have had good performances too. Look at those too. There have been some really good performances, but the small mistakes that were committed, we need to work on them.”
Moments later, Azam continued, “Khaas taur se, Nawaz. Ghabra mat. Koi masla nahi. Tu match-winner hai mera. (Especially, Nawaz, don’t worry. You are my match-winner) and I will always have belief in you. No matter what happens. You will win matches for me. The efforts were really good. It was a pressure game, but you took it close. Very well done.” He went on to advise the team to leave the defeat behind and to push through. However, many cricket fans found this to be ironic, and a little bit of a Michael Scott moment.
Earlier, Pakistan managed to post a respectable score of 159 runs at the end of the first innings, thanks to valuable contributions from Masood (52 off 42) and Iftikhar Ahmed (51 off 34). Pakistan’s pace trio also gave the team a brilliant start as they had lost four wickets for just 31 runs on the board.
However, a heartwarming knock of 82 runs in 53 balls from Virat Kohli helped the team chase down the score on the final ball of the last over of the innings.
