MELBOURNE: Virat Kohli struck an imperious half-century and Ravichandran Ashwin was cool at the death as India secured a four-wicket win on the final ball against arch-rivals Pakistan at the T20 World Cup on Sunday in front of a huge Melbourne Cricket Ground crowd.

Pakistan’s spin-bowling all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz had a final over to forget, gifting India two wides and a no-ball before Ashwin coolly blasted the winning run over mid-off as India chased down 160 for victory.

Man-of-the-match Kohli was magnificent, driving India to the brink of victory with 82 not out after digging the team out of trouble in a brilliant partnership with Hardik Pandya (40).

Pakistan were cruising to what seemed a morale-boosting victory but Kohli went ballistic with the bat in the final overs to bring India home in front of 90,293 screaming fans and hundreds of millions more watching around the world.

“It’s a surreal atmosphere, I have no words, no idea how that happened,” said Kohli. “I am really lost for words. Hardik believed we can do it, if we stayed till the end.”

Kohli thrashed back-to-back sixes in the penultimate over against Haris Rauf to push India within 16 runs of victory from the final six balls.

With Kohli off strike, Nawaz had Pandya caught in close with a miscued slog to break a 113-run partnership.

Kohli took back the strike and hit a six off a no-ball as the wheels fell off for Nawaz, who then bowled a wide.

Kohli was bowled off the free hit on the next ball but the ball rattled for three byes off the stumps.

With two balls left and two runs required, Nawaz had Dinesh Karthik stumped but bowled a wide on what would have been the last ball of the over.

Ashwin cleared the in-field with a calm finish to complete the win, sending Indian fans into a frenzy.

It was a cruel finish for Pakistan, who had rallied well to post a defendable total of 159 for eight after losing the toss and starting poorly with the bat.

“All credit to Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli,” said Pakistan captain Babar Azam.

“They shifted the momentum and finished the game well ... We had a chance, and we just asked the boys to believe in themselves, but again credit to Virat Kohli.”

Victory was critical in a group that includes South Africa, Bangladesh and qualifiers Zimbabwe and the Netherlands, with only the top two making the semi-finals.

India have largely dominated Pakistan since the late 1990s but had lost two of their three previous clashes including by 10 wickets in the group phase at last year’s T20 World Cup and the recent Asia Cup.

But India had been in good recent form, winning home series against Australia and South Africa, riding on the success of their batting line-up. “Those two guys (Kohli and Pandya) are experienced. Staying calm and taking the game deep was very critical. Good for our confidence,” said India skipper Rohit Sharma. “We were in no position to win this,” he admitted.

Few sporting rivalries match the passion of India-Pakistan and the atmosphere was electric as Pakistan got off to a stuttering start after being sent in to bat with Babar out lbw for a golden duck to Arshdeep Singh.

Babar reviewed, but it was plumb in front, with Singh’s swing causing more carnage in his next over when Mohammad Rizwan (4) top-edged a rising ball to Bhuvneshwar Kumar at fine leg.

Shan Masood survived a narrow run out appeal as he and Iftikhar Ahmed worked to rebuild the innings.

They reached 60-2 at the halfway mark before Iftikhar accelerated when the slow bowlers came on, hitting Ashwin for six then plundering three more in one over from Axar Patel.

Iftikhar reached his half-century before Mohammed Shami trapped him lbw, sparking a collapse with Pandya snaring Shadab Khan, Haider Ali and Nawaz in the space of 19 runs.

India also had a horror start with KL Rahul out in the first over to Naseem Shah, dragging the ball onto his stumps, then Iftikhar took a blinding catch at slip to remove skipper Sharma (4) off Haris.

That brought Suryakumar Yadav, arguably the best T20 batsman in the world, to the crease but he only lasted eight balls, caught behind for a whirlwind 16 off Haris as the Pakistan fans roared in celebration.

When Patel was run out in the next over, India were reeling at 31-4.

Kohli started slowly but finally found his groove and with Pandya launched a fightback, hitting three sixes in one over off Nawaz.

They still needed 60 runs with five overs remaining. With 28 needed off the last eight balls, Kohli launched his onsla­ught against Haris to set up the final over victory, eventually sparking wild celebrations.

Pakistan v India
Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Mohammad Rizwan c Kumar b Singh 4

Babar Azam lbw b Singh 0

Shan Masood not out 52

Iftikhar Ahmed lbw b Shami 51

Shadab Khan c Yadav b Pandya 5

Haider Ali c Yadav b Pandya 2

Mohammad Nawaz c Karthik b Pandya 9

Asif Ali c Karthik b Singh 2

Shaheen Afridi c & b Kumar 16

Haris Rauf not out 6

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-4, W-6) 12

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 20 overs) 159

DID NOT BAT: Naseem Shah

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Babar), 2-15 (Rizwan), 3-91 (Iftikhar), 4-96 (Shadab), 5-98 (Haider), 6-115 (Nawaz), 7-120 (Asif), 8-151 (Shaheen)

BOWLING: Kumar 4-0-22-1 (3w), Singh 4-0-32-3 (1w), Shami 4-0-25-1 (1w), Pandya 4-0-30-3, Ashwin 3-0-23-0 (1w), Patel 1-0-21-0

INDIA:

K.L. Rahul b Naseem 4

R. Sharma c Iftikhar c Haris 4

V. Kohli not out 82

S. Yadav c Rizwan b Haris 15

A. Patel run out 2

H. Pandya c Babar b Nawaz 40

D. Karthik st Rizwan b Nawaz 1

R. Ashwin not out 1

EXTRAS (NB-1, W-6, B-3, LB-1) 11

TOTAL (for six wkts, 20 overs) 160

DID NOT BAT: B. Kumar, A. Singh, M. Shami

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-7 (Rahul), 2-10 (Sharma), 3-26 (Yadav), 4-31 (Patel), 5-144 (Pandya), 6-158 (Karthik)

BOWLING: Shaheen 4-0-34-0 (2w), Naseem 4-0-23-1, Haris 4-0-36-2 (2w), Shadab 4-0-21-0, Nawaz 4-0-42-2 (2w, 1nb)

RESULT: India won by four wickets.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2022