Virat Kohli was on fire against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. The former India captain smashed 82 runs in 53 balls in the team’s T20 World Cup 2022 opener.
Kohli came into the game with an average of more than 67 against Pakistan. He was India’s highest run-scorer vs Babar Azam and co in the 2021 T20 World Cup. On Sunday, he led India’s win.
Rohit Sharma lifted Virat Kohli as the entire team celebrated the win.
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Chasing 160 runs, India were 10/2. Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav took the team through the powerplay before the latter was dismissed by Haris Rauf. Axar Patel was then run out, inspite of Azam and Rizwan fumbling.
Kohli and Hardik Pandya (40) then stitched a 113-run partnership and took India deep in the game. The Men in Blue completed the chase in the last ball – Ravichandran Ashwin hitting Mohammad Nawaz for a boundary.
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Sent in to bat, Pakistan were well served by Iftikhar Ahmed’s 34-ball 51 and Shan Masood‘s unbeaten 52 off 42 balls after they lost their first two wickets with just 15 runs on the board in the fourth over.
For India, Arshdeep Singh was among the most successful bowlers in the much-awaited match of the tournament, finishing with figures 3/32 in four overs at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.
If it was not for the 14 runs in the 19th over, Arshdeep would have ended with better figures Playing in his maiden World Cup, left-arm pacer Arshdeep gave India early breakthroughs before Pakistan steadied things with a 76-run partnership for the third wicket.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya bagged impressive figures of 3/30 in four overs after Mohammed Shami removed a well-set Iftikhar to trigger a slide. Pandya took a flurry of wickets to reduce Pakistan from 91/3 to 120/7.
India now face Netherlands on October 27 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in their next Group 12 clash. Pakistan, on the other hand will face Zimbabwe on the same day at the Optus Stadium, Perth.
