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Mon, Dec 23, 2024 | Jumada al-Aakhirah 22, 1446 | DXB
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T20 World Cup: I'm lost for words, this is my best knock, says Virat Kohli
Kohli's 82 not out off 53 balls helped India beat Pakistan by four wickets in a dramatic last-over finish
Virat Kohli celebrates after India's dramatic win over Pakistan on Sunday. (Agencies)
Virat Kohli was lost for words after playing the greatest T20 knock of his career to help India script a thrilling four-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC T20 World Cup on Sunday.
Kohli's 82 not out off 53 balls and his stirring 113-run fifth wicket partnership with Hardik Pandya (40 off 37 balls) rescued India from a hopeless position at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Chasing 160, Rohit Sharma's team were reduced to 31 for four in the seventh over by the formidable Pakistan bowling attack.
But Kohli and Pandya kept India in the hunt before the former turned the match on its head.
Photo: AFP
With 28 needed off just eight balls, Kohli hit two back-to-back sixes against the hostile Haris Rauf in the penultimate over to bring the equation down to 16 runs off six balls
India then survived a nail-biting last over from spinner Mohammad Nawaz to reach the finish line in the most dramatic of fashions.
But it was Kohli who mastered the chase with an epic knock.
Photo: AFP
And when Ravichandran Ashwin hit the winning run in the last ball of the innings, the former Indian captain struggled to hold back the tears.
"Well, it's a surreal atmosphere. I honestly have no words. I have no idea how that happened," Kohli said at the post-match presentation.
"Hardik kept telling me, just believe we can stay till the end. I'm lost for words."
Photo: AFP
Kohli, who ended his three-year drought for an international century at the Asia Cup last month, revealed how they planned to attack Pakistan's best bowlers in the back end of their chase.
"Well, I think when Shaheen (Afridi) bowled from the Pavilion end, I told Hardik we have to take him down," said Kohli of the 17th over in which Afridi was hit for 17 runs.
"The calculation was simple. Nawaz had one over to bowl, so if I could take Haris (Rauf) down, they would panic. It came down to 16 off 6. I'm kind of lost for words."
The Indian superstar then revealed how he hit the fiery Rauf for two back-to-back sixes in the 19th over.
Photo: AFP
The fifth ball of the 19th over from Haris was punched off the back foot over the back of the bowler's head and the last ball was flicked over the fine leg boundary.
"It's just instinctively I saw it, told myself to stay still. The one at long-on was unexpected, it was a back-of-a-length slower ball. The fine leg one, I just threw my bat at it," he said.
The 33-year-old player felt his match-winning knock on Sunday was even better than his magical 82 against Australia in the 2016 T20 World Cup in Mohali.
"Till today I said Mohali was my best T20 innings. Then I got 82 off 52, today I got 82 off 53. But today I will count this one higher because of the magnitude of the game and what the situation was," he said.
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Rituraj Borkakoty
Rituraj Borkakoty is Sports Editor and has spent more than two decades writing on his sporting heroes. He also loves an underdog story, so if you have one, share it with him. He would love to bring it to life.
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