Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya paired up to pull off one of Team India's most memorable wins against Pakistan in their T20 World Cup opener on Sunday (October 23).
After Kohli's match-winning 82 off 53, Hardik played a perfect second fiddle as he first took 3/30 to restrict Pakistan to 159 and then followed it up by sedate 40 off 37 in India's four wicket victory over arch-rivals.
After the match, the flamboyant India all-rounder Hardik Pandya turned emotional, recalling how his late father moved cities to fulfil a young boy's cricketing dreams.
If Virat Kohli (82 not out) stole the limelight with his incredible knock in India's four-wicket win over Pakistan in their T20 World Cup opener, star all-rounder Hardik (40) was the perfect ally as the team recovered from a woeful start to emerge victorious.
"I was only thinking about my dad. I have not cried about my dad. I love my son, but I don't know if I'll be able to do for him what my dad did for me. He moved cities for a six-and-a-half-year old boy's dreams without knowing I'd get to where I am today. So this is for him," said Hardik on Star Sports.
"I will be grateful forever. If he hadn't given me a chance, I won't be standing here. He made a big sacrifice, he shifted to a different city for his kids. We were six at that time, and he shifted an entire city and his entire business. It was a big thing," a teary-eyed Hardik added.
Virat Kohli owned the grand stage with a knock for the ages in a heart-stopping T20 World Cup game, that unfolded at the MCG 'amphitheatre' which was packed with 90,000 boisterous fans.
King Kohli, as his fans call him, conjured up a magical and memorable unbeaten 82-run knock to anchor a chase of 160 which became tricky after India were left in tatters at 31/4.
Hardik Pandya, the most important cog in India's T20 wheel, struck 40 in a partnership of 113.
His ability to win matches for India coming under the scanner due to a prolonged lean patch, Kohli sang the perfect redemption song on the grandest stage.
It started in the 19th over when he sent one from Haris Rauf on his hunches and pulled off two back-to-back sixes.
Cricket indeed is a leveller as Rauf, after 22 splendid deliveries bowled two bad ones and it changed the complexion of the game.
With 16 needed off last six balls, Pandya holed out off Mohammed Nawaz's bowling and with rule of crossover non existent, Dinesh Karthik faced his first delivery and took a single.
With 14 needed off three balls, Nawaz’s juicy full-toss was dispatched for a six over square leg and it was called a no-ball after deliberation by on-field umpires.
Nawaz, the hero of Pakistan's Super 4 victory in the Asia Cup, by then had lost his nerves.
After Karthik was stumped by an alert Mohammed Rizwan, Nawaz bowled a wide and Ravichandran Ashwin scored the most important boundary of his career.
'Chak De India' reverberating around the MCG never sounded sweeter and Kohli seemed numb. He punched ground, took a long walk back, showed thumbs up to the crowd having restored India’s supremacy at a global event.
