Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 82 has helped India to four-wicket, final-ball win over Pakistan to start their T20 World Cup campaign off on the right note in front of 90,293 feverish fans at the MCG.
Pakistan got off to a horror start in front of what was the biggest ever Australian crowd between two neutral teams with captain Babar Azam dismissed by Arshdeep Singh for a golden duck in the second over before Mohammad Rizwan found himself back in the pavilion shortly after.
Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed, who went ballistic with a quartet of sixes, did a tremendous job of steadying the Pakistani inning with both men surpassing the half-century mark to build a 76-run third-wicket partnership.
Mohammed Shami caught Iftikhar in front of his stumps in the 13th over leading to a rocky period for Pakistan with Hardik Pandya claiming three wickets over his next two overs as they lost 4-for-29.
Shaheen Shah Afridi put together a quick end-of-innings cameo that included a four and six whilst Masood managed to remain not out as Pakistan finished 8-for-159.
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Arshdeep and Pandya each finished with a trio of wickets whilst Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar both grabbed one each.
India too got off to a slow start losing openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma in the opening four overs.
Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed by Haris Rauf before Axar Patel was run out by Babar as India began to falter.
Pandya entered the crease with India at 4-for-31 and steadied the ship alongside Kohli with the two combining for a 113-run partnership.
With eight balls remaining, India needed 28 runs.
Kohli clocked a full Rauf delivery back over the bowler’s head for six before flicking one over fine leg for another.
Needing 16 runs from the final over, Pandya skied one down the throat of Babar on the first ball.
Dinesh Karthik found a single on his second ball of the over to return the strike to Kohli who hit it back down the ground for two.
Needing 13 off the final three, Kohli sent a full-toss out over square leg for another six plus a no-ball.
With six required off the final three, the pressure got to Pakistani left-armer Mohammad Nawaz who bowled a wide.
Off a free hit, Kohli was bowled, however, the batsman managed three runs off the rebound as the ball raced down towards third man.
Rizwan stumped Karthik on the second-last ball leaving Ravichandran Ashwin to face the final ball needing two to win and one to tie.
Nawaz bowled another wide – this time down leg – as Ashwin did not offer shot.
Ashwin chipped the ball over mid-off on the final delivery to secure a famous win for the Indians.
Kohli was awarded player of the match for his unbeaten 82 off 53 balls as he added yet another historic performance to his already stacked resumé.
India will face the Netherlands in their next clash at the SCG whilst Pakistan will meet Zimbabwe in Perth.
