Man of the Match India vs Pakistan: The former Indian captain played an unbelievable knock at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today.
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During the 16th match of ICC T20 World Cup 2022 between India and Pakistan in Melbourne, India beat Pakistan by 4 wickets in a nerve-wracking finish.
Chasing a 160-run target, India were found wanting against the Pakistani new-ball bowlers yet again only to get reduced to 26/3 inside the powerplay. Although opening batters KL Rahul (4) and Rohit Sharma (4) had no clue whatsoever against the moving ball, Suryakumar Yadav (15) looked confident whilst hitting a couple of boundaries but couldn’t carry on for much long.
An experiment to promote all-rounder Axar Patel (2) to No. 5 failed as well leaving the onus on former captain Virat Kohli (82*) and all-rounder Hardik Pandya (40). The pair did most of the heavy lifting in the Indian innings in the form of a match-winning 113-run fifth-wicket partnership to put India in a commanding position at the Melbourne Cricket Stadium tonight.
Man of the Match India vs Pakistan today
Having said that, it wasn’t the most simplest of run-chases which can be explained in a couple of paragraphs in an instant story such as this. Kohli, who hit six fours and four sixes at a strike rate of 154.71, registered a match-winning 34th T20I half-century, 29th at No. 3, 11th in T20 World Cups, 10th at a neutral venue, sixth in Australia and fifth against Pakistan, under Sharma and in 2022.
Kohli, who had won a Player of the Match award after almost three years for scoring a century against Afghanistan during Asia Cup 2022, won another one tonight for a phenomenal innings. Kohli’s 14 T20I match award is also his fourth against this opposition and second at this venue.
“Well, it’s a surreal atmosphere. I honestly have no words. I have no idea how that happened. Hardik [Pandya] kept telling me, ‘Just believe, we can stay till the end’,” Kohli told the broadcaster during the post-match presentation ceremony.
