Flashback: Virat Kohli’s Mohali mayhem against Australia
Virat Kohli is arguably the best batter of this generation, having amassed close to 25000 runs in international cricket. He played a match-winning knock of an unbeaten 82 runs off 53 balls against arch-rivals Pakistan during their ICC T20 World Cup 2022 clash at the MCG a couple of days ago.
This was one of Kohli’s major knocks in successful run-chases and he has been the backbone of the Indian batting in T20 World Cups since the 2012 edition. However, the batting megastar had scored another fiery 82* against the reigning T20 world champions Australia in the 2016 edition in Mohali.
Without further ado, here’s a look at that epic knock.
When Virat Kohli knocked Australia out of the T20 World Cup
It was a virtual quarterfinal for both sides and they had to win in order to qualify for the semis. The stakes were higher and it was Australian skipper Steve Smith who called it right at the toss and elected to bat first in a high-pressure game.
The Aussies got off to a flying start with Usman Khawaja (26) and Aaron Finch (43) adding 54 runs for the opening stand. Nonetheless, once the duo was dismissed, quick wickets derailed the Australian innings and, in the end, they succeeded in crawling to a competitive total of 160/6.
In reply, the Australian bowlers started asking tough questions right from the beginning and removed openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma inside the Powerplay. Once the strong middle-order duo of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh departed, the Men in Blue were tottering at 94/4 in the 14th over with not too much batting left after skipper MS Dhoni.
It looked to be an uphill task from there on with the asking rate getting steeper. However, Virat Kohli single-handedly took on the challenge in the middle and death overs and took the opposition bowlers to the cleaners at regular intervals.
Soon the asking rate came down and the then reigning 50-overs World Cup holders were under enormous pressure and did not have too much fuel left in their tank as the bowlers ran out of ideas.
In the end, Kohli allowed Dhoni to hit the winning runs and he obliged by depositing one into the stands as India registered a famous win by six wickets and five balls to spare to qualify for the semis.
The batting icon was adjudged the Player of the Match for his whirlwind knock of unbeaten knock including nine fours and two sixes.
