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16 runs were needed in the deciding over of the match. Virat Kohli was on the field. It was a 2022 T20 World Cup match in Melbourne, India were balancing on a thin wire, with Pakistan having a slight advantage.
Virat Kohli has seen many adventures throughout his career. But none of these come close to the India vs Pakistan match in Australia in 2022. It was one of those rare moments when the ‘Chase Master’ himself was under pressure, his nerves bursting in front of thousands of fans.
Virat Kohli reveals the toughest Test match he has ever played for India
In a recent conversation with Beyond the Boundary, Virat Kohli recalled the closing moments of the high-voltage match. Team India won the match on the last ball of the second innings. Ravichandran Ashwin took a single on the sixth ball of 20.th India won the match by 4 wickets to claim the target of 160 runs. Virat Kohli was adjudged the player of the match.
The target of 160 was not among the big scores in the history of T20I cricket. As the Rohit Sharma-led side kept losing wickets while chasing the target, the Men in Blue came under immense pressure.
Virat and Hardik Pandya kept India in the match against Pakistan
It was Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya who remained on deck and took the target till the last over. The 113-run partnership between Kohli and Pandya proved to be the turning point of the match. It reminded me of the 102-run partnership between MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh.
In the end, Kohli remained unbeaten on 82 off 53, while Hardik Pandya lost his wicket on the first ball of 20 runs.th Mohammad Nawaz scored 40 runs in 37 balls. Dinesh Karthik also lost his wicket in the over. Nawaz scored two runs in the final over of the match to bring the crowd to its feet.
Kohli had no option but to watch the wicket fall at the other end. Pakistan were also experiencing a tense moment as it turned into an evenly fought contest as it approached its final stages. Nawaz took the wickets of Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik, putting India behind, but the extra runs conceded by him affected the outcome of the match.
‘I’ve never experienced adrenaline like this’
“The T20 against Pakistan in Melbourne. I had never experienced that kind of adrenaline after that or before. I have had many games where we have won.” [tough] The conditions… even Mohali against Australia was tough, but you knew what you wanted to do and how to do it,” Kohli told One8-Beyond the Boundary.
Virat Kohli and that #INDvPAK game at MCG…
oops pic.twitter.com/GRTwPLSIs2
– Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) June 16, 2026
“It took me to a place where I had never experienced anything like that before. And that was the only time I felt the emotions and sensations of everyone in the stadium. The players, the crowd, the people watching, they were all at the same level of tension, and then there was the adrenaline. That power of energy was completely different that night,” he added.
