"Virat Kohli gave me like 7 options” – When Ravichandran Ashwin recalled the tense final moments of 2022 T20 World Cup match against Pakistan
Back in 2022, Team India spin bowling all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin revealed what batting ace Virat Kohli told him during their tense run chase against arch-rivals Pakistan at the 2022 ICC men's T20 World Cup. The clash was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on October 23, 2022.
Chasing 160 to register their first win of the tournament, India were in a precarious position at 31/4. After that, Virat Kohli (82 off 53) and Hardik Pandya (40 off 37) joined hands in the middle and stitched together a big partnership.
With 16 runs needed off the last over, Hardik Pandya was dismissed on the first ball looking to go for a big hit. Dinesh Karthik came out next but the keeper-batter was dismissed for just one run, which brought Ravichandran Ashwin to the middle.
Kohli had managed to bring the equation down to two runs off the final ball and with Dinesh Karthik getting stumped on the previous ball, Ashwin was on strike. Mohammad Nawaz, bowling the last over, sent one down the leg side and Ashwin got in the line of the stumps and left it, with umpire Marais Erasmus calling it a wide.
With a single needed off the last ball and Ashwin on strike, Kohli walked up to the spinner and gave him a host of options for the final delivery. In a video posted by ICC, Ashwin revealed:
“Virat Kohli gave me like 7 options to play off that one ball. If only I was that capable of playing all those shots, I wouldn’t be batting at No. 8. I just talked to myself - I couldn’t say that to him. I looked at Virat and his eyes seemed like he was possessed. And I said, okay he’s on another planet, let me come back to earth.”
Ashwin smartly hit the last ball over extra cover and ended the game with a single. India beat Pakistan by four wickets and registered their seventh win against their arch-rivals in the T20 World Cup.
On this day in 2022: Virat Kohli starred as Team India beat Pakistan in a tense run chase in the men's T20 World Cup
After electing to bowl first, India conceded 159/8 in 20 overs with Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh picking up three wickets each. In reply, the Men in Blue endured a worrisome start as they lost four wickets for 31 runs by the seventh over.
Virat Kohli came out at number three and was a bit scratchy to start, with his score reading 15 runs off 21 balls. He changed gears effortlessly later, especially taking down Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf. Kohli flipped the game on its head in the 19th over, hitting back-to-back maximums against Rauf and bringing the equation down to 16 runs in six balls.
Kohli scored eight of the 16 needed and ended the match with 82 runs off 53 balls. For his efforts, he won the Player of the Match award, which was his third against Pakistan in T20 World Cups.