As India and Pakistan fans poured into the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, they created a monster crowd of over 90,000 people and a deafening atmosphere.
Those amped-up spectators deserved the cricket on the field to be just as sizzling and, boy, did it deliver. It was a match that had everything before ‘King Kohli’ reigned supreme.
You wanted batting collapses and subsequent recoveries? You got them. Brilliant new-ball bowling and towering sixes? Yep, we had them, too. Drama, confusion, the tightest of finishes? Ditto.
In the end, an extraordinary game went India’s way, as 12 months on from being battered by Pakistan in the previous T20 World Cup, they squeezed to a four-wicket success off the final ball.
Ravichandran Ashwin chipped the match-deciding run over mid-off after his batting partner Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 82 not out from 53 balls had fired India out of the mire. Captain Rohit Sharma called Kohli’s innings “one of India’s best knocks, not just his best knock”.
“It seemed impossible,” Kohli mused, as he reflected on rallying his side from 31-4 after 6.1 overs, 45-4 after 10 and 112-4 after 17 to a successful chase of 160 in precisely 20. He was steady at the start and swashbuckling at the end.
The momentum had swung wildly during Pakistan’s innings.
India were cock-a-hoop, to use one of their former head coach Ravi Shastri’s favourite words, as left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh made mincemeat of Pakistan captain Babar Azam for a golden duck and opening partner Mohammad Rizwan for just four to leave their opponents 15-2 after four overs.
At 91-2 in the 13th, however, Pakistan had built up a head of steam, with Iftikhar Ahmed having slammed Axar Patel for three sixes in four balls in the previous over.
Then it was three wickets for seven runs and ultimately five for 29 as India wrestled complete control, but back came Pakistan with 24 runs across the final overs giving them a total to work with.
There were not such momentum shifts in the India innings – not until the final three overs anyway – with Pakistan having their opponents under the pump for the vast majority of the chase.
KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma gone for single figures, just like they were against Pakistan last year. Suryakumar Yadav out in the teens after hitting two boundaries, just like he was against Pakistan last year. India struggling to deal with a talented attack, just like they did against Pakistan last year.
And just like against Pakistan last year, Kohli scored a half-century. The difference being that this time around it was a match-winning innings and showed just why he has to be in the conversation for the best white-ball batter around, a tag that most seem to have placed on Jos Buttler these days.
First Kohli – and Hardik Pandya, whose contribution to a fifth-wicket stand of 113 from 78 balls must not be overlooked – had to absorb pressure.
Kohli and Hardik added just 14 runs from the first 24 deliveries they faced in partnership but then 99 from their next 53. For all of Hardik’s six-hitting capabilities, Kohli was the dominant partner, scoring 69 runs in the pair’s alliance compared to Hardik’s 40.
Hardik crunched two sixes off Mohammad Nawaz in the 12th over but Kohli managed one of his own and it was Kohli hitting a four in each of the next three overs that keep India just about afloat. Then it was Kohli who completely changed the complexion of the game.
Triumphing at the business end of a run chase, something he had built his reputation on earlier in his career.
Kohli rescued India from a dire position against Pakistan with an innings for the ages
This chase appeared to be beyond him with just 12 runs scored across overs 16 and 17 meaning India needed 48 from the last three, the next of which was to be bowled by the oft-brilliant Shaheen Afridi. On this night, though, it was Kohli’s brilliance that shone through.
He pulled Shaheen for four through midwicket to bring up his half-century and added two more fours before the over was through, dispatching a full toss over extra-cover and a short ball over fine leg. Thirty-one runs needed from 12 balls.
Then, after Haris Rauf had shipped only three runs from the next four deliveries, Kohli launched a perfectly acceptable length delivery back over the bowler’s head for one sublime six before whipping another gorgeously over deep fine leg.
The target cut from 28 off eight balls to 16 from six. India fans believed. But they, nor Pakistan’s fans, could probably believe what happened next.
It started off quite well for Pakistan, with Nawaz dismissing Hardik from the first ball of the over and conceding only three runs across the next two balls. He also had Dinesh Karthik stumped from the penultimate delivery. The problem was the other five balls of the nine-ball – yes, nine-ball – over.
A no-ball full toss above waist height was slammed over the leg-side for six by Kohli to cut the requirement to six off three balls. Nawaz then bowled a wide before seeing the free hit castle Kohli but deflect away for three byes.
He atoned somewhat with the wicket of Karthik but then bowled another wide to Ashwin with two needed from one ball, before Ashwin slapped the spinner away for the game-clinching single.
Nawaz lost his nerve but Kohli did not lose his. In a game packed with incident, emotion and spine-tingling sound, Kohli kept cool amid the chaos. All hail the King!