Virat Kohli, who scored an unbeaten 82 off 53 balls with the help of six fours and four sixes in the opening match of the T20 World Cup against Pakistan, gave India a historic victory, terming it his best innings in the shortest format of the game. Said that he lacks words to describe this feeling. Chasing a target of 160 runs to win, the Indian team had a very poor start. The team scored 31 runs in the seventh over with four of its batsmen in the pavilion.
KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma were dismissed after scoring four runs respectively while Suryakumar Yadav (15 and Axar Patel scored two runs). Kohli then made a century partnership with Hardik Pandya (40 runs in 37 balls) to get the team back in the match. After receiving the man of the match award, Kohli said, “It’s a wonderful atmosphere.I probably don’t have words to describe today’s feeling. When Kohli was asked when he thought of accelerating the run-rate, he said, “I think when Shaheen (Afridi) came to bowl from the pavilion, I told Hardik that we need to bowl in this over. Have to score more runs.
He said, “(Mohammed) Nawaz had one over left, so I said that if I can score runs against Haris (Rauf) then there will be pressure on him. Terming it brilliant, he said, “Hardik told me to have faith. He said that if we stay till the end, we will win the match. (Mohammed) Nawaz has one over left and runs can be scored in it. Kohli, who faced criticism for being out of rhythm for a long time, said emotionally, “It’s a very special moment. Earlier I used to consider my innings against Australia in Mohali as the best in this format but now I would probably say that it is my best innings.
“In that match, I scored 82 runs (not out) in 52 (51) balls and today I scored 82 runs (not out) in 53 balls,” said ‘King Kohli’ at the 2016 T20 World Cup here. Referred to in which his innings helped India achieve the target of 161 runs for the loss of four wickets. Thanking the fans passionately, he said, “I would like to say thank you to all the spectators present here. These were the people who were with me when I was struggling.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma also termed it as Kohli’s best innings. Rohit said, “Salute to Virat. This is one of the best innings he has played for India.” The captain said, “I have no words to praise this innings. We always wanted to make sure that we stayed in the match. We’re talking about it constantly. Whatever the situation, you have to believe that you can move on, and that partnership changed the game for us.”
Rohit said, “There was a lot of help for the bowlers on the pitch. Our bowlers made good use of it. The Pakistan middle-order batted well and we knew it was not going to be an easy target. He said, “Hardik and Kohli have a lot of experience, they know how to play calmly in such matches. The way we live is very important to us.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam praised his bowlers but credited Hardik and Virat for helping India win. “It was a very close match,” he said. However, our bowlers have started very well. Full credit goes to Virat and Hardik for this win. At one point we felt that the match was almost in our favour.
