Virat Kohli played one of the finest knocks of his glittering career as India defeated Pakistan by four wickets at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.
The former India captain remained unbeaten 82 off 53 to help his team to a famous victory in front of over 90,000 fans at the MCG. India needed 48 runs to win from the last three overs and got over the line off the last ball, with Kohli scoring 36 of those runs.
India vs Pakistan as it happened: Virat Kohli leads India to victory in an epic match
Kohli brings the roof and Rauf down at MCG with two majestic swings of his bat
India restricted their arch rivals to 159/8 and got to just 45/4 off 10 overs in the chase. But Kohli and Hardik Pandya (40) launched an incredible fightback with a century stand to help India to victory.
“It’s a surreal atmosphere, I have no words, no idea how that happened,” said Kohli after being declared Player of the Match. “I am really lost for words. Hardik believed we can do it, if we stayed till the end.”
It was a milestone filled innings for Virat Kohli who is now the leading run-scorer in men’s T20Is.
Top 10 run-getters in men's T20Is
| Player | Mat | Inns | Runs | SR | 100 | 50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kohli (INDIA) | 110 | 102 | 3794 | 138.41 | 1 | 34 |
| Sharma (INDIA) | 143 | 135 | 3741 | 140.37 | 4 | 28 |
| Guptill (NZ) | 122 | 118 | 3531 | 135.70 | 2 | 20 |
| Azam (PAK) | 93 | 88 | 3231 | 129.60 | 2 | 29 |
| Stirling (IRE) | 118 | 117 | 3119 | 134.55 | 1 | 21 |
| Finch (AUS) | 101 | 101 | 3026 | 143.88 | 2 | 18 |
| Warner (AUS) | 96 | 96 | 2855 | 141.82 | 1 | 24 |
| Hafeez (PAK) | 119 | 108 | 2514 | 122.03 | 0 | 14 |
| Rizwan (PAK) | 74 | 63 | 2464 | 127.47 | 1 | 22 |
Reactions to Virat Kohli’s 82* against Pakistan at MCG – ‘Undoudtedly the best innings of your life’
Here are some stats after Kohli’s epic knock:
Virat Kohli in run chases in limited-over games for India
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 23, 2022
ODIs: ave 66.41, S/r 94.07
T20Is: ave 73.44, S/r 136.47
in successful run chases
ODIs: ave 93.32, S/r 97.76
T20Is: ave 90.05, S/r 135.42#T20worldcup22 #T20WC2022 #INDvPAK #PAKvIND
Most runs while chasing in Men's T20 World Cup :-
— Rhitankar Bandyopadhyay (@rhitankar8616) October 23, 2022
543 - David Warner 🇦🇺 (20 inns)
541 - Virat Kohli 🇮🇳 (10 inns)
457 - Rohit Sharma 🇮🇳 (15 inns)
393 - Chris Gayle 🏝️ (14 inns)
Kohli reached 500+ runs in just his 10th innings while chasing in T20 World Cup today.#T20WorldCup
Kohli has been unbeaten in 8 out of 10 run chases in the #T20WorldCup - average of 270.5!!!
— Rohit Sankar (@imRohit_SN) October 23, 2022
India have won each of those 8 matches.#INDvPAK
Most Player of the Match Awards against a team in men's ICC events:
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) October 23, 2022
4 - Virat Kohli 🇮🇳 v PAK
3 - Sachin Tendulkar🇮🇳 v PAK
3 - Yuvraj Singh🇮🇳 v AUS
3 - AB de Villiers🇿🇦 v WI
3 - Rohit Sharma🇮🇳 v BAN
3 - Sourav Ganguly🇮🇳 v KEN#INDvPAK #T20WorldCup
Highest batting average in succesful run chases in Men's T20 World Cup (min 5 inns) :-
— Rhitankar Bandyopadhyay (@rhitankar8616) October 23, 2022
518.00 - Virat Kohli 🇮🇳
104.00 - Cameron White 🇦🇺
103.00 - Kumar Sangakkara 🇱🇰
86.00 - Paul Stirling ☘️
82.00 - MS Dhoni 🇮🇳#INDvPAK #T20WorldCup
Virat Kohli has now.....
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) October 23, 2022
Most runs in T20Is (3794)
Most runs in T20 WC for India (927)
Most player of the match awards in T20Is (14)
Most player of the match awards in T20 WC (6)#Goat#ViratKohli #INDvsPAK2022 #INDvPAK #T20WC2022
Highest scores for India while chasing in Men's T20 World Cup :-
— Rhitankar Bandyopadhyay (@rhitankar8616) October 23, 2022
82* - Virat Kohli vs AUS🇦🇺, 2016
82* - Virat Kohli vs PAK🇵🇰, today
79* - Rohit Sharma vs AUS🇦🇺, 2010
78* - Virat Kohli vs PAK🇵🇰, 2012
72* - Virat Kohli vs SA🇿🇦, 2014#INDvPAK #T20WorldCup
Yesterday Virat Kohli played one of the great T20 innings. Here is how our Match Impact model assessed it as it unfolded. He absorbed early pressure before kicking into life in the middle & exploding at the death. #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/EYO03misrY
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) October 24, 2022
Most 50+ scores in ICC events:
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) October 23, 2022
24 - VIRAT KOHLI 🇮🇳
23 - Sachin Tendulkar🇮🇳
22 - Rohit Sharma🇮🇳
21 - Chris Gayle🏝️
21 - Mahela Jawayawardene🇱🇰
21 - Kumar Sangakkara🇱🇰#T20WorldCup #INDvPAK
Virat Kohli in T20I run chases:
— Fox Sports Lab (@FoxSportsLab) October 23, 2022
Innings: 45
Not Outs: 18
Runs: 1,983
Avg: 73.44
SR: 136
50s: 20
4s: 169
6s: 53
Virat Kohli in successful T20I run chases:
Innings: 36
Not Outs: 18
Runs: 1,621
Avg: 90.05
SR: 135
50s: 16
4s: 132
6s: 45#T20WorldCup #INDvPAK #ViratKohli 🇮🇳🇵🇰
In all this drama that unfolded at the MCG, Virat Kohli (3794) has now become the leading run-getter in T20 Internationals. He went past Rohit Sharma's tally of 3741 runs.#T20worldcup22 #T20WC2022 #INDvPAK #PAKvIND
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 23, 2022
India needed 54 runs in the last 4 overs.
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) October 23, 2022
Virat Kohli made 39 off 14 (SR 278.57)
Other batters made 8 off 11 (SR 72.72)
Extras - 7
Job done!#INDvPAK #PAKvsIND #T20WorldCup2022 #T20WorldCup
Virat Kohli becomes the first player to score 500 World Cup runs against a single team.
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) October 23, 2022
Most runs against a team in men's WCs across formats:
501 - Virat Kohli 🇮🇳 v PAK
458 - AB de Villiers🇿🇦 v WI
424 - Mahela Jayawardene🇱🇰 v NZ#INDvPAK
5 - @imVkohli now has five 50+ scores in men’s T20I against Pakistan, the joint most against the Men in Green along with Kane Williamson; only against Australia does he have more such scores in the format (8). Legend.#ICCT20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/xRag2TxVNn
— OptaJeev (@OptaJeev) October 23, 2022
In last 10 years in international cricket, Virat Kohli has been dismissed by Pakistan pacers 10 times and only once by a spinner. Kohli's average vs Pakistan spinners is over 400.00!!! Pakistan should have played a 4th pacer (that's not a hindsight). #IndvPak
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) October 23, 2022
Virat Kohli today
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) October 23, 2022
First 24 balls: ••2••••12•11111•••1•112• | 15 runs
Last 29 balls: 6114141•12141•12•14241416626 | 67 runs
He soaked up the pressure, withstood the early barrage & then exploded. We've seen it before but never like that.#T20WorldCup
Virat Kohli in T20Is v Pakistan:
— Fox Sports Lab (@FoxSportsLab) October 23, 2022
Innings: 10
Runs: 488
Avg: 81.33
SR: 124
50s: 5
4s: 48
6s: 11
78* (61)
9 (11)
27 (22)
36* (32)
49 (51)
55* (37)
57 (49)
35 (34)
60 (44)
82* (53) tonight at MCG#T20WorldCup #INDvPAK #TeamIndia #ViratKohli 🇮🇳🇵🇰
