India Pak T20 World Cup MCG

 23-Oct-2022

The match between India-Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2022 preceded with its usual hype. It was scheduled for 23-Oct-2022 and was billed as War minus shooting. But as compared to some over-the-top advertisement in previous encounters, this time it seemed pretty reasonable. Probably since Pakistan have beaten India couple of times in recent matches, advertisers would have taken it bit easy.

It was a Sunday during the Diwali times, so the mood was upbeat for all of us. India Pakistan encounters, no matter what, where, when, after how long, are always a matter of temperament. After watching so many Ind-Pak matches, its fair to say that the skill factor just goes out of the window during these tense matches. The team which has more belief prevails. Even this match had its usual up-down, pendulum swinging moments which is more of expected in tense matches. 

But King Kohli was in his zone that day. In spite of having asking rate of around 12 for last 10 overs which shot up to 16 for last 3 overs, Kohli batted like a man possessed. It was pure genius at work on that day. He took down the best of the Pakistan fast bowlers with full guts & he had the skills to match it. No mean a feat, to hit bowlers to boundaries when asking rate is 16 and they are breathing fire with 145+ speed. It was a sheer delight to witness. 

Like most of us, I had lost all my hopes when India were 31-4 in 6 odd overs. Kohli & Pandya had the belief. They had the confidence to take it deep & then see how it goes. Kudos to such planning & hats off to execution. They had everything going against them but they simply kept pushing themselves, simply kept the faith in each other, simply kept converting singles into two. The audacity of some shots especially two sixes of the best bowler of the day was the swing of the momentum. 

Kohli, who has been through some slump for last couple of years, was always going to be judged by the high standards he has set for himself. Anything short of those lofty standards are treated as failures. The weight of expectations, the weight of hopes of so many people, I am sure only Sachin Tendulkar must have felt something closer to that. The doubters, the nigh sayers, the armchair critics everyone had already seen the writing on the wall. 

But one man who refused to buy that was standing in the middle. He had some of his own ideas, some of his own skills. Coupled with supreme fitness & unshakeable faith in his ability. King Kohli dragged the match out of Pakistan's throat & made it one of the best nights MCG had witnessed.  

Doing it in front of 90,000 plus fans in the biggest of ground in Australia, the G, against the old rivals when chips were totally down, was really a stuff of dreams.

Seems like I have exhausted all my emotions in the first match itself. Irrespective of what happens with Team India in the remaining world cup, this innings will be remembered as one of the greatest ever played in cricket.

Thank You Virat Kohli for the unforgettable day.