India picked up a four-wicket win against Pakistan in a last-over thriller, during their opening bout of the ICC T20 World Cup.
At the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) track which aided pacers, Pakistan had set a challenging target of 160 before India. Despite the initial collapse, the men in blue were able to chase down the score, with former skipper Virat Kohli leading the inning with an unbeaten knock of 82 off 53 balls.
As India began the chase, the team was put on the backfoot by Pakistan's pace trio of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf. Opener KL Rahul was the first to go, as he nicked an in-swinging delivery from Shah right into the stumps.
Captain Rohit Sharma was quick to follow suit, as he edged a quicker one from Rauf right towards Iftikhar Ahmed at the slip. Both the openers managed to put up only four runs each on the board.
The exit of Suryakumar Yadav (15) and the subsequent run-out of Axar Patel (2) further added to India's woes.
However, the 113-run partnership between Kohli and all-rounder Hardik Pandya (40) tilted the game back in India's favour.
The match boiled down to 31 off the 12 balls, and Kohli managed to smash two sixes on the last two deliveries of the penultimate over, bowled by Rauf.
With 16 runs required off the final six deliveries, spinner Mohammed Nawaz managed to dismiss Pandya on the first ball. But a couple of extras, along with a no-ball on which Kohli struck a six, allowed India to wrest the game away. With a single needed off the last bowl, Ravichandran Ashwin managed to lift the ball over the mid-off for a boundary.
Earlier, Pakistan's innings witnessed a quality performance with the bat from middle-order's Iftikhar Ahmed (51) and Shan Masood (52*). A 16-run cameo from 8 balls by tail-ender Afridi allowed the team to cross the 150-mark.
Pandya was pick of the bowlers from India, picking three for 30, followed by left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh who ended with a statistic of 3/32.
Brief Scores
- Pakistan: 159/8 | Masood 52*(45), Iftikhar 51 (34), Afridi 16 (8). Pandya (3/30), Arshdeep (3/32), Bhuvneshwar (1/23)
- India: 163/6 | Kohli 82* (53), 40 (37), Yadav 15 (10). Rauf (2/36), Nawaz (2/42), Shah (1/23)
Kohli's 83-run knock comprised of 4 sixes and 6 fours. The inning was well-timed, as he took the first 21 balls to settle down with a score of 11, and fired 72 off the next 31 balls he faced.
With this knock, Kohli has surpassed Rohit Sharma to become the highest run-scorer in T20 cricket. The innings comes months after questions were being raised about his form, with analysts speculating about his future in the playing XI.
Kohli's performance also marks a continuation of his dominant form against Pakistan, as he has an average of 308 runs against the team.
This victory takes India to the top of the points table in Group B of T20 World Cup's Super 12 round. The team is set to face Zimbabwe, Netherlands, Bangladesh, South Africa and Zimbabwe in the remaining matches of the round.
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