MELBOURNE: Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya held their nerves strong to steer India to a thrilling victory by four wickets in a nerve-wracking clash against arch-rivals Pakistan of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, here on Sunday.
India chased down the total on the last delivery of the final over as Ravichandran Ashwin worked the ball over the mid-off fielder to snatch the golden run for his side and India finished at 160/6 in their quota of 20 Overs.
India had a horrible start to their run chase as the side lost four wickets for a mere 31 runs in the seventh over.
Following the slump, India’s veteran batter Kohli and all-rounder Pandya stitched an astounding 113-run partnership for the fifth wicket and anchored the run chase.
Kohli was the main aggressor in that 78-ball partnership and brought up his half-century in the 18th Over.
He then took on Pakistan’s one of the best death-over bowlers Haris Rauf for 15 runs in the 19th Over to push Pakistan on the back foot.
Mohammad Nawaz’s final over got off to a dramatic start as he removed the set batter, Pandya, on the first delivery.
He scored 40 off 37 balls, laced with a boundary and two sixes.
The dramatic final over entered a tense stage as a waist-line no ball from Nawaz on the third delivery was powered by Kohli out of the ground and India then needed six off three.
After bowling a wide on the free hit, Nawaz castled Kohli but the Indian batters stole three runs from the deflection.
Left-arm spinner Nawaz then deceived India’s Dinesh Karthik on the second-last delivery and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan ran him out.
The nail-biter came to the final delivery with India needing just one run and Ashwin held his nerves calm to work the ball over the in-ring fielder and sealed the victory for India.
Kohli top-scored for India and remained unbeaten with his masterclass knock of 82 off just 53 with the help of six boundaries and four sixes.
For Pakistan, Nawaz and Haris picked up two wickets each, while Naseem Shah struck out a batter.
Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed starred with glittering half-centuries after initial setbacks as Pakistan managed a respectable 160-run target.
The Green Shirts came from behind as they were reduced to 15/2 in the first four overs before Iftikhar blasted a sensational 34-ball 51 laced with four gigantic sixes and two fours while Shan played a valiant knock of 52 not out off 42 including five boundaries.
Pakistan went through a dismal start as skipper Babar Azam went back on the golden duck when Arshdeep Singh plumbed him in the second over of the game. The left-arm pacer then dismissed No 1 ranked Mohammad Rizwan in his next over as he top-edged the ball while attempting a hook shot.
Shan and Iftikhar, however, anchored Pakistan’s innings with a valiant partnership of 76 runs for the third wicket to take the scoreboard to 91/2 in 9.2 overs before Shami dismissed the latter after he completed his fifty.
Following the dismissal, the batting side went through another slump, losing wickets at regular intervals as the next four batters failed to get into double figures.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya stormed through the middle order as he grabbed three wickets, getting rid of Shadab Khan (5), Haider Ali (2) and Mohammad Nawaz (9) cheaply while Arshdeep sent back Asif Ali who just managed 2 off 3 balls.
Shaheen Afridi, however, played a late cameo as he smacked a huge six and a four during his quickfire 8-ball 16 before he was caught and bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar while No 9 batter Haris Rauf also hit a six in the final over to take Pakistan to 159/8 in the allotted 20 overs.
