King Kohli leads India to unforgettable victory in T20 World Cup match for the ages

By Chris Waters
Published 23rd Oct 2022, 18:24 BST
King Kohli. The brilliant India batsman pictured after his extraordinary innings at the MCG, which guided his team to a breathtaking victory over Pakistan at the T20 World Cup. Photo by Martin Keep/AFP via Getty Images).King Kohli. The brilliant India batsman pictured after his extraordinary innings at the MCG, which guided his team to a breathtaking victory over Pakistan at the T20 World Cup. Photo by Martin Keep/AFP via Getty Images).
King Kohli. The brilliant India batsman pictured after his extraordinary innings at the MCG, which guided his team to a breathtaking victory over Pakistan at the T20 World Cup. Photo by Martin Keep/AFP via Getty Images).
SOME games of T20 are so forgettable that by the time you’ve returned home from the ground you can’t remember anything about them.

No one present at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, though, would have suffered from that amnesia after India and Pakistan served up a classic.

As 90,000 passionate fans made for an electric atmosphere, two fine sides graced the occasion with the spectacle it deserved, India winning by four wickets off the final ball.

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King Kohli was the hero - “Virat” must have been a misprint on the birth certificate - with an unbeaten 82 from 53 balls that was perhaps the finest T20 innings ever played.

They'll be dancing on the streets of Mumbai - and they were, quite literally, as fans back home celebrated India's incredible World Cup win against Pakistan. Photo by AFP via Getty Images.They'll be dancing on the streets of Mumbai - and they were, quite literally, as fans back home celebrated India's incredible World Cup win against Pakistan. Photo by AFP via Getty Images.
They'll be dancing on the streets of Mumbai - and they were, quite literally, as fans back home celebrated India's incredible World Cup win against Pakistan. Photo by AFP via Getty Images.

Hyperbole? Maybe. But who cared after a knock that left even the king himself speechless.

“I have no words,” said Kohli, thereby inviting the pedantic counter-punch that he had just uttered four of them as wild celebrations raged around him.

But this was no time for pedantry, only for praise, for revering one of the game’s great masters.

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“No idea how that happened,” added Kohli, thus confirming that sport at its best defies description.

Kohli and his India team-mates celebrate. Photo by Surjeet Yadav/AFP via Getty Images).Kohli and his India team-mates celebrate. Photo by Surjeet Yadav/AFP via Getty Images).
Kohli and his India team-mates celebrate. Photo by Surjeet Yadav/AFP via Getty Images).

The dry details of the matter were these…

India, chasing 160, were 31-4 in the seventh over. "Start the car,” as someone once said, with Pakistan firmly in the driver’s seat.

At first, Kohli was becalmed - just 15 runs off his first 24 balls becalmed - as Pakistan, on the back of a fine half-century from Shan Masood, the new Yorkshire captain, turned the screw with their stunning pace attack.