India’s chase master Virat Kohli played a superhuman knock against Pakistan to help India register a four-wicket win in a Super 12 clash at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) Stadium on Sunday.
While chasing 160, India looked in complete disarray when they were reduced to 31/4 in 6.1 overs after the run-out of Axar Patel. But when it mattered the most, 33-year-old Kohli brought them into the match with a crucial 113-run stand with all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who played a crucial inning of 40 off 37 balls with one four and two sixes.
Even towards the end of the match, India’s win was unlikely as they needed 48 runs to win from the last three overs. But Kohli suddenly shifted his gear to play some unbelievable shots, smashing the Pakistani bowlers all around the ground. Kohli scored an unbeaten 82 off 53 deliveries at a strike rate of 154.71 with six fours and four sixes as India won the match needing one run off the final delivery with Ravichandran Ashwin playing a straight lofted shot over mid-off to score the winning runs.
After the match, Kohli was seen getting emotional after captain Rohit Sharma lifted him and his teammates rallied around him while he was leaving the field.
“It’s a surreal atmosphere, I have no words, no idea how that happened. I am really lost for words,” Kohli said during the post-match interview when he was awarded Player of the Match for his match winning 82 not out off 53 deliveries.
Kohli admitted that the task looked “impossible” at one stage. After the end of 10 overs, India was 45/4 and needed 115 off 60 balls. Kohli was seen struggling initially as he was on 12 off 21 balls and he admitted that he was “feeling a lot of pressure”. It was Hardik, who changed the momentum as soon as he came on to bat, Kohli said.
“I think a lot of credit has to go to Hardik,” Kohli said .”Because he came in and he was very, very positive. He kept telling me, you know, just keep striking the ball, just keep pushing in the gaps. Let’s take the game deep, it can happen, we can do it. Honestly, I was feeling a lot of pressure at that stage. Because I’ve been in these situations quite a bit. So I understand that as a senior player, guys play for so long, a lot of expectations, a lot of responsibility on you.
“But then when he (Hardik) came in and he had a few boundaries, I kind of opened up. It’s T20 cricket at the end of the day, we have to hit boundaries, you have to go up to the bowlers. But that partnership – when it got to 100, we didn’t even realise because we were just enjoying soaking that pressure together and kept talking, running hard. And we kept watching their body language. And we knew that it’s going to turn at some stage. It turned quite late to be honest. I’d have liked to do it earlier, but then we could not have afforded any more wickets at that stage.”
Pakistan had the advantage when India needed 54 from the last four overs. The only hope for India was that there was an over left from Mohammad Nawaz who went expensive and looked like a weak link in their bowling attack. 54 from 4 overs became 48 from 3 as Naseem Shah gave just six runs in the 17th over. However, Kohli kept pushing and brought India back into the match by striking three fours in the 18th over from Shaheen Shah Afridi and two back-to-back sixes off the last two balls in the 19th over from Haris Rauf.
“I think when Shaheen bowled from the pavilion end (18th over), that’s when I spoke to Hardik that we need to take him down,” Kohli said. “And then the conversation was simple. He (Hardik) said Nawaz has to bowl one over. So I told him if I can take Haris down then they will kind of panic because he was their prime bowler. So I was kind of pumping myself up to hit two sixes when we needed 28 off eight and that became 16 off six.”
Kohli has earned the ‘King Kohli’ title due to his ability to pace the innings and plan the chase perfectly. Tonight was the 18th time in his T20I career that Kohli had remained unbeaten in a chase, and India has won every time. This shows how important Kohli is for the Indian team irrespective of how talented are the other Indian batters.
“I need to be there at the end, that’s a simple stat,” Kohli said with a laugh. “Look, I love these situations. I love having a score on the board because it allows you to kind of understand the conditions, understand the dimensions of the ground, understand the bowling attack, and then know exactly what to do at what stage.
“A lot of people talk about pressure while chasing. For me, it’s clarity. You know exactly what you have on the board, and you just need to get it. So it’s a difference of perspective, which has always helped me. And I like these challenges, I take a lot of pride in them. These are the kinds of games that you play cricket for. After 14-15 years, you need challenges like this to kind of wake you up once again and be like, you know, let’s go again.”
Kohli showed that clarity of thought when he changed his bat immediately after Rauf’s third over when India needed 54 from the last four overs. Rauf, Afridi and Naseem Shah were all bowling extremely quick so he needed a lighter bat. “When the situation was such that you had to hit the big ones, I changed my bat, I was playing with a lighter bat because all three of them were bowling 145kph-plus. I was like, just swing through the line of the ball. And I kept believing in myself. Those two shots to Haris Rauf was the time I was just talking to myself – “you have to hit those sixes here otherwise there’s no chance, we’re gonna win this game.” And I told Hardik if we can go up to him (Rauf), and if he goes for a big over, they will panic big time. And that’s exactly what happened.”
Kohli’s other big strength is soaking the pressure and seizing the moment. By the time Nawaz came on to bowl the final over of the match, Kohli knew that Pakistan was under pressure and had lost their nerve as they experimented and did some strange things with the field without a proper plan. Kohli underlined: The advantage of a set batter playing deep was the biggest factor despite the recent debate over the role of an anchor in T20 cricket.
“All these things look great at the end (laughs). To be honest, when I was 12 off 21, I was like, I’m really messing this game up, not pulling the ball in the gaps. But then when you have experience then you understand the value of batting deep. That’s always been my role playing for India, to bat 16-17 overs. Because I know that I can do a lot of the power-hitting towards the latter half of the innings. And that’s always been my strength,” Kohli said.
“I can strike at 250-300 as well, when I become really confident and there’s only one guy under pressure and that’s the bowler. So I always try to get to that situation, where I’m not feeling any pressure. I’m not saying I didn’t feel any pressure today, but then you give us a platform to then say you know what, it’s their game to lose now. And it was almost their game to lose. We were just swinging through the line of the ball and we knew when Nawaz bowled that no-ball as well, I knew it and with the keeper standing back there. It was looking like, you know, this is our moment. And we need to capitalise,” he added.
Kohli has played some of his finest innings in Australia, especially in Test cricket, but this was “one of the best nights” in his lifetime, Kohli said.
When asked to rank the innings against Pakistan at the MCG, Kohli put it ahead of his previous favourite against Australia in Mohali during the 2016 T20 World Cup, which coincidentally was also an unbeaten 82 off 51 balls where he added a partnership with former India captain MS Dhoni with India in trouble while chasing 161.
“Till today I have always said Mohali was my best innings, against Australia: I got 82 off 52. 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,” Kohli said.
When asked about a word for the crowd of over 90,000 at the MCG, Kohli said, “It’s phenomenal. Thank you so much. You guys have supported me, shown me so much love and support for all these months that I was kind of struggling, you guys kept backing me. And I am very grateful for your support. Thank you.”
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