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Diwali celebrations kick off with a win for the ages
Melbourne At the halfway mark in their run chase of 160 against Pakistan at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) on Sunday, India were 45/4 and any hopes of a wildly improbable comeback rested on big-hitting all-rounder Hardik Pandya at the crease and perhaps on designated finisher Dinesh Karthik who was to follow
Melbourne
At the halfway mark in their run chase of 160 against Pakistan at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) on Sunday, India were 45/4 and any hopes of a wildly improbable comeback rested on big-hitting all-rounder Hardik Pandya at the crease and perhaps on designated finisher Dinesh Karthik who was to follow.
Relatively unnoticed at the other end was Virat Kohli, the former captain whose descent from a cricketing royal to a regular guy with everyday struggles had been painstakingly documented during the past few years. Over the next 10 overs though, Kohli turned the clock back to produce an extraordinary display of batting greatness that culminated in a last-ball victory off Ravichandran Ashwin’s bat.
The defining moments of the glorious run chase came on the last two balls of the penultimate over bowled by Haris Rauf, Pakistan’s best bowler on the day with plenty of local experience – the MCG is Rauf’s home ground in the Big Bash League for the Melbourne Stars – as Kohli played a lofted back-foot drive for six over the sight screen and a wristy chip over fine leg for another six, leaving a relatively achievable 16 from the final over. The first was a shot of technical perfection few in the modern game can execute, and the second a reflection of acute tactical awareness – the fielder at 45 degrees had been moved back that very ball but Kohli knew a short-of-length ball at Rauf’s pace would carry all the way.
Heart-stopping drama unfolded in the final over that saw Pandya and Karthik getting out and Kohli smashing a six off a no-ball the Pakistanis contested vociferously, to be followed by a free hit that hit the stumps and went for three byes. Ashwin kept his nerve with two needed off one ball as he walked in, calmly seeing off a wide and chipping the next one over mid-off to seal a historic victory and throw the 92,000-strong MCG crowd into overnight Diwali celebrations.
“It’s surreal. I honestly have no words. I have no idea how that happened. It seemed impossible but then Hardik kept pushing me in that partnership and we just went deep,” a visibly emotional Kohli said after his 53-ball 82*. “It just happened. Hardik kept telling me: ‘Just believe, believe we can do it, stay till the end’. I’m lost for words.”
Kohli’s 113-run stand with Pandya was India’s best-ever fifth wicket partnership in T20 internationals.
“I think when Shaheen (Shah Afridi) bowled from the pavilion end (in the 18th over that fetched 17 runs), that’s when I spoke to Hardik that we need to take him down,” Kohli said.
“And then the conversation was simple. He said Nawaz has to bowl one over. So, I told him if I can take Haris down then they will panic because he was their prime bowler. I was kind of pumping myself up to hit two sixes when we needed 28 off eight and that became 16 off six,” Kohli said.
Describing those two iconic sixes off Rauf, Kohli shrugged and said with a gleam in his eye: “It’s just instinctively I saw the ball and told myself just stay still. The one at long-on was unexpected. It was a back-of-a-length slower ball. And the next one, I just swung my bat through the line of the ball and it flew over fine leg. Now standing here, I just feel like it was meant to be. It’s a very, very special moment.”
India started the day well after winning the toss and putting Pakistan in. Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh struck early to get rid of skipper Babar Azam and fellow opener Mohammad Rizwan within four overs. But Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed steadied the innings with a 76-run third-wicket partnership, scoring contrasting fifties in the process. India hit back by taking a cluster of wickets but Shaheen Shah Afridi and Masood gave Pakistan enough to defend on a drop-in pitch at a historically low-scoring venue with big boundaries, except that Kohli had other plans.
“This is why he is such a big player,” Pakistan captain Babar Azam said. “We had a chance, and we just asked the boys to believe in themselves, but again credit to Virat Kohli.”
His India counterpart Rohit Sharma was even more effusive. “Not only was this his best knock, it was also one of the finest by an Indian,” Sharma said.
Kohli ranked the innings as his best ever in T20 cricket. To be his best, it had to be this good.
“Till today I have always said Mohali was my best innings, against Australia. I got 82 off 52 (51 balls). Today I got 82 off 53. So, they are exactly the same innings, but I think today I will count this one higher because of the magnitude of the game and what the situation was,” said the man of the match.
