Hardik Pandya has applauded Virat Kohli for his efforts in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 match against Pakistan at the MCG.
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Team India started their ICC T20 World Cup 2022 campaign with a memorable 4-wicket win over Pakistan in the Super-12 match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne. There was a record attendance at the venue, and the atmosphere inside the ground was emphatic.
Team India got the target of 160 runs, and looking at the track, it was not a big ask, but the Pakistani pacers were on fire from the very first over. India lost 4 quick wickets at the score of just 31 runs. At that time, the situation was looking bleak for the side, but then Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya added 113 runs for the 5th wicket.
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However, India were way behind the required run rate, they needed 28 runs off the last 8 balls. Virat then smashed Haris Rauf for two consecutive sixes to bring India back into the contest. Virat scored 82 runs in just 53 balls with the help of four sixes and six boundaries.
Hardik Pandya salutes Virat Kohli for his 2 sixes off Haris Rauf
BCCI released a video where Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya were talking about the match against Pakistan. Hardik had a lot of praise about Virat, and he said highlighted the importance of the two sixes smashed by Virat against Haris Rauf on the last two balls of the 19th over.
Hardik said that he himself has smashed a lot of sixes in his life, but the sixes by Virat were really special and that brought back India into the game.
“Those two shots played by Virat Kohli, just because I know how important those two shots were, if you had missed even shot, still they were running ahead with the game. I have hit a lot of sixes, but those two sixes were really really special,” Hardik Pandya said about Virat Kohli in the BCCI video.
Hardik revealed that both of them of got pumped after those big sixes, and they felt confident about winning the game then. He again highlighted that none in the world could have played those two shots at the MCG apart from Virat Kohli.
“What it meant for both of us, we actually were so pumped. Those two shots, I told him that I have played so much cricket but I do not think anyone could have played those two shots except Mr. Kohli,” Hardik added.
After a memorable win against Pakistan, Team India will now face Netherlands in their next game on 27 October at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney.
