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| One man army |
Anything was possible. After all, Kohli is human. But, he showed that he was not an ordinary human. He was super human, absorbing pressure, raising his game in front of a packed stadium and putting on a show...
Close friends and relatives sent messages about how unbelievable the experience must have been at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and watching it live from the historic venue following India’s sensational last-ball victory, courtesy Virat Kohli’s one-of-its-kind 53-ball 82 not out when the chips were down.
The only reply I managed to give most of them in between writing copies to meet the deadline, running up to the third level to attend the captains’ post-match press conferences and back to the second level, where the sprawling media box is located, and also doing a Vlog in between was, “Oh, yes. Yet to digest the unbelievable victory that I saw unfold in front of my eyes!”..
I still can’t believe that I was present at the great MCG to witness one of the finest knocks in T20 cricket played by one of the finest batsmen in modern day cricket, Virat Kohli. There was tension. There was drama. There were emotions. And finally, there was joy.
We all know how emotional Kohli is, overtly expressing himself and celebrating individual’s success, of himself and of his team-mates, with just an Indian win on his mind. Nothing else mattered to him. He did not have to necessarily score the winning run. He has done enough to ensure that the victory was achieved. And, if he stayed in the middle till then, which every Indian batsman strives to do and not leave it for others, then all the more welcoming. Personal milestones don’t matter anymore.
The roar grew louder as more and more began to fill the stands, finally making up 90,923, the official number of attendees for the high-octane India-Pakistan ICC T20 Men’s World Cup match, as Arshdeep removed Mohammad Rizwan in his second over, forcing the batsmen to top-edge an intended pull to fine leg.
With two batsmen, ranked first and third among T20I batters, and who were the architects of a 10-wicket win in the previous World Cup in Dubai exactly 365 days later – it was this day last year – back in the pavilion cheaply, the indications were good for India having a good match.
But, with an India-Pakistan match, one cannot be sure until the victory is achieved. That was how it shaped on Sunday. Pakistan bounced back with the Shan Masood-Iftikhar Ahmed partnership, the Indian bowlers gave some loose deliveries in the end even for the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf to use their long handle to clear the longest of boundaries and take Pakistan to a position of strength..
The excitement levels reached new levels, those who had Blood Pressure issues faced tense moments and I, for one, resigned to the fact that the match was going away from India’s hands when they were reduced to 31 for four in 6.1 overs. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma went cheaply, and it was not to Afridi but to Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf that I could not help but tweet that if Shaheen Shah Afridi does not get you, Naseem Shah will. And, so does Haris Rauf. The hope of India winning, irrespective of the presence of Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya in the middle, was diminishing.
Kholi survived an appeal for bat-pad off left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz and the next ball was slammed straight for a six in the 12th over, the crowd was back on its feet and the shouts broke the decibel barriers. Even as Pandya went into a shell in the second half of his vital knock of 40, the pressure to score runs began to mount on Kohli. And, there were more anxious faces that one of the Indian fans, Keerthi Harisankar, said that her BP levels shot up and that India were going to be smashed as India needed 70 in 36 balls,
which was less than 12 runs an over, and then 54 runs off the last four overs, which was 13.5 runs an over.
The reporters from the world over, largely Indians in attendance at the press box, had to keep their reports ready. Usually, what happens with the journalists is that the report is kept ready more or less as they get a sense of which way the match was heading.
But, on Sunday, while most of them kept their reports ready along the lines of an India defeat, they had to write all over again once the script changed, thanks to Kohli. And, certainly no one was complaining at all.
Such was the see-saw kind of a situation that even in the last over, when India needed 16 to win, Pakistan spinner Md Nawaz came under pressure. Though he managed to dismiss Pandya off the first ball, the belief was still there as in walked ‘finisher’ Dinesh Karthik.
Karthik walked in a similar situation, though the required runs off the last over was not so much, in the Asia Cup opener against the same opposition. That time, he walked in to join Pandya. This time it was Kohli. In Dubai, he took a single off the first ball he faced to give Pandya the strike. At the MCG, he hit a full toss for a single to give Kohli the strike.
With four legal deliveries remaining, 15 to get and Kohli was in, anything could have happened. Fears were abound what if Kohli went for a six and ended up top-edging to a fielder inside the circle like Pandya fell; what if he miscued a big hit and found a fielder manning the boundary line as the ground is usually larger than what you find in India; what if he stepped out and Azam bowled a wide to have him stumped?
Anything was possible. After all, Kohli is human. But, he showed that he was not an ordinary human. He was super human, absorbing pressure, raising his game in front of a packed stadium and putting on a show.
Kohli, who has cleared the longest of boundaries, took two runs to retain the strike. Thirteen needed off 3. You needed to hit three fours to level the scores.
And send one of them over the far boundaries for a six to give yourself a chance of a win. Or hope the bowler to bowl a wide and give an extra run while also bowling an additional delivery. That precisely happened, and Kohli is one to cash in on the slightest of such opportunities. A waist-high full toss was smashed for a six over square leg, the chubby umpire from South Africa, Marais Erasmus signalling No Ball for above-waist high only made the spectators shout in joy much beyond their capacity even if it meant throat pain for a couple of days.
The Pakistan players led by Azam had a discussion with the umpires about the height of the ball, Dinesh Karthik at non-striker’s kept his sharp ears in the discussion that followed while Kohli, at the striker’s end, was focussing on which stand of the MCG to hit the next ball.
When a friend mentioned that I must be missing Diwali at home, my instant reply was ‘It is certainly worth it.” Yes, the match could have been watched and enjoyed at home in India on TV, but nothing comes anywhere close to being at the venue and experiencing the atmosphere first-hand.
It still gives me goosebumps that I witnessed one of the greatest knocks in modern day and one of India’s greatest victories live at, of all the places, MCG.
Over to the SCG next!....,
Happy Diwali! Hope everyone celebrating has a great time with your friends and family.
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) October 24, 2022
🪔 I celebrated by watching the last three overs again today, what a game and performance #Diwali #TeamIndia #T20WC2022
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