Virat Kohli held strong as India braved an early collapse to secure an important win over Pakistan in the first match of their 2022 T20 World Cup Super 12 match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday, October 23. The former skipper held on to the end despite the top order underperforming and chased down 160 runs as the match went down to the very last ball.
After Ravichandran Ashwin hit the winning runs, an ecstatic Rohit Sharma ran onto the pitch to congratulate Kohli and showed his camaraderie by lifting up the match-winner. After twirling him around for a few seconds and then putting him down, Kohli's tears at the end of the match were visible for all to see, displaying how much the win meant to him.
See the video here:
The match was exciting for fans around the world, with the game tilting in each other's favour multiple times throughout the match. Arshdeep Singh was excellent in his initial overs, getting the wicket of Babar Azam for a Golden Duck with his first ball at the T20 World Cup. Then fell Mohammad Rizwan for four runs, as India took an early advantage. But a long, unbeaten 52 off 42 from Shan Masood, coupled with Iftikhar Ahmed's quickfire 51 off 34, brought Pakistan back into the game as Masood guided Pakistan to 159.
Pakistan had a similar start to that India. Naseem Shah bowled KL Rahul but it was Haris Rauf who Babar counted on, and the pacer delivered the wickets of Rohit Sharma (4 off 7) and more importantly Suryakumar Yadav (15 off 10). But Kohli held on to score 82 off 53 balls, with Hardik Pandya hitting 40 off 37, and India securing the victory in the final ball.
