Chase master Virat Kohli completes redemption arc with epic knock against Pakistan in T20 World Cup

‘I don’t know if God is a sports fan or not, but I do know this: He loves a good comeback’. Lane Kiffin.

The heavens too would have loved the magic Virat Kohli weaved with his willow against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2022 on Sunday. As the ball flew towards the rope off R. Ashwin’s bat, Kohli jumped & pumped in the air, it was an unreal moment. Cometh the hour cometh the man, the King has done it again. He has regained his fiefdom.

While Kohli has engineered many memorable victories for his team in the past, this win was a special one. During the presentation ceremony, Kohli called his innings against Pakistan at the T20 World cup game on Sunday his ‘best T20 knock ever’. With an emphatic display of explosive firepower, Kohli single-handedly snatched the victory from the jaws of defeat.

But the journey has been arduous. The prolific batsman who has conquered all three realms of the game had a horrifying time over the last three years. While cricket pundits kept analysing his failures to look for a chink in his armour, they found none.

There was nothing wrong in his technique, no pattern in his dismissals. But the king had lost his Midas touch. The ace Indian cricketer had also shared early this year that the run drought affected his mental health. All through the Indian batting talisman kept his cool & continued to marshal on and then came the moment, he scored a century against Afghanistan this year in the Asia Cup.

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With the monkey off his back, Kohli was well poised to return to his favourite hunting ground i.e. Australia for the T20 World Cup.

With an unbeaten 82 of 53 balls, Kohli emerged victorious in front of more than 90,000 spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He made a nation of a billion-plus people erupt with joy with his heroics. Fireworks lit up the skies around India celebrating Kohli’s epic knock in a riveting contest.

He too had a tear in his eyes, tears of joy, for the first time in his cricketing tear. This victory was truly surreal. Nerve-wracking would be an understatement.

The pressure on Kohli would have been bigger than one would experience at the bottom of Mariana Trench. The steep run chase & the fiery bowling by Pakistan’s bowlers continued to make things worse for India.

India needed 48 runs from the last three overs. Kohli remained focused, hitting lusty blows & running like a gazelle between the wickets converting ones into twos and twos into three. In the 18th over the modern-day master launched a fierce counter-attack.

Also Read: His best innings: Rohit Sharma lauds Virat Kohli after his match-winning 82 against Pakistan

He smashed the dangerous Shaheen Afridi for three fours. The best was yet to come, Haris Rauf saw two of his deliveries sail into the stands. Remember this is MCG, which boasts of massive boundaries, but again he is the King.

India still needed 16 runs in the final over. Hardik Pandya miscued the first ball and there ended the 113-run stand. Next came Dinesh Karthik but he too could not trouble the scorers much. Kohli still believed in his pyrotechnics and hit Mohammad Nawaz for a massive six.

Nawaz who has had a brilliant six months turned out to be the villain for Pakistan. He conceded a wide & a no-ball in the last over, only to help Kohli’s cause as India eventually got over the line to earn a thrilling four-wicket win.

India-Pakistan matches have always enthralled sporting fans around the world and the two sides didn’t disappoint. Pakistan played brilliantly, they kept pushing India but ultimately it was the pressure that they could not manage in the last over.