T20 World Cup 2022: Virat Kohli’s 82* decimates Pakistan in a nail-biting thriller.

By Indraneel Chakrabarty: ‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man.’

It’s been raining nothing but pure unadulterated pleasure ever since runs have resumed their flow from Kohli’s blade. India, locking horns with their traditional rivals Pakistan in their opening match of the T20 World Cup 2022, snatched a thrilling last-ball 4-wicket victory as their Diwali gift.

The foundation of the victory was laid by the firm of Kohli & Pandya, who put together 113-runs off 78 balls. It’s certain to be among the most searched Ind vs Pak highlights. Pakistan seemed to be in the driver’s seat till the 18th over, had their boat rocked by a masterclass of an innings from Virat Kohli (82* off 53-balls).

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Kohli’s pre-Diwali fireworks, destined to go down in the legends of T20I history as an epic, were executed with some breathtaking hits to the boundary and some supernatural ones over it. His innings of 82 not out were studded with four x6s and six x4s, which throughout the match, broke several records:

° The highest number of runs in T20Is. Kohli scored 3794 runs across 110 matches @ 51.97, with an SR of 138.41. In doing so, he went past the current Indian skipper Rohit Sharma again, with the batting duo competing in a non-stop run race at the top of all-time T20I runs.

° Collecting his 14th Player of the Match award – most in T20Is for men – Kohli surpassed Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi’s 13.

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° It was his 6th Player of the Match award in the T20 World Cup, again the most by any male player.

° With 927 runs in T20 World Cups, Kohli edged ahead of Rohit Sharma, who was 851 at the end of the match, making Kohli India the highest T20I run scorer.

° He logged his 5th half-century versus Pakistan, 4 of which have been scored during T20I World Cups. He’s now joint equal with Chris Gayle for most 50+ scores for any player against a single opponent in the T20I World Cup. Gayle has scored 4 50+ scores in T20I World Cups vs Australia.

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