Virat Kohli
showcased his ‘big-game player’ mettle and continued his run-scoring exploits
against Pakistan to guide India to a competitive total in the T20 World Cup
Super 12 clash in Dubai on Sunday.

Kohli’s
49-ball 57 anchored the innings after Shaheen Afridi’s fiery opening spell got
rid of openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma early on. The Indian skipper forged a
53-run stand with Rishabh Pant for the fourth wicket as the two looked to stabilise
the innings after Suryakumar Yadav’s dismissal piled further pressure on India.

Kohli’s
knock included five fours and a solitary six. It ended when he mistimed his
effort to pull a length delivery from Afridi, edging it for wicketkeeper
Mohammad Rizwan to catch behind the stumps. Afridi finished with an impressive
return of 3 for 31 from four overs.

Interestingly,
it was the first time Kohli was dismissed in a T20 World Cup match against
Pakistan. In three previous innings against the arch-rivals in the showpiece
event, Kohli has scores of 78*, 36* and 55*. Today’s innings takes his record
against Pakistan to 226 runs from four innings.

Afridi, one of the most exciting young fast bowlers, produced two unplayable deliveries at the biggest stage under pressure.  The most difficult delivery from a left-arm fast bowler is the one that holds the line just when the batter had committed for the angle.

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In the case of Rohit (0), before he could adjust his footwork, he got one that was pitched on block hole and straightened. It caught him plumb in-front.

KL Rahul (3) thought that the ball will straighten but it shaped in to breach his defence and disturb the off-stump.

Suryakumar Yadav (11) did get a six over backward square leg off Shaheen and a boundary off Imad Wasim (0/10 in 2 overs) but Hasan Ali bowled one back of the length which he edged while trying to cut and a diving Rizwan behind the stumps pouched it.