adminMELBOURNE. – He may have been “lost for words” at the end of an epic game, but Virat Kohli was sure that his undefeated 82 off 53 balls against Pakistan at the MCG was the best T20 innings of his career, “because of the magnitude of the game and what the situation was”.
From 31 for 4 in a chase of 160 on a spicy pitch, Kohli masterminded a spirited comeback with Hardik Pandya, putting on 113 runs for the fifth wicket.
Kohli was front and centre right until the dramatic last over, which had two wickets, a no-ball for height, a wide, a six – from Kohli, who else! – and arguments between the Pakistan players and the umpires, before R Ashwin hit the winning run off the last ball.
“It’s a surreal atmosphere,” Kohli told his former India coach Ravi Shastri on Star Sports after the game. “I honestly have no words. I have no idea how that happened.”
“I was kind of pumping myself up to hit two sixes when we needed 28 off eight and that became 16 off six”
The task looked “impossible” at one point, Kohli admitted.
At the halfway stage of the chase, India needed 115 off 60 balls. Kohli was on 12 off 21 and later admitted he was “feeling a lot of pressure”. It was Hardik, Kohli said, who changed the mood as soon as he came on to bat.
“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.”
India needed 54 from the last four overs and it looked like Pakistan had the advantage. – Cricinfo
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter