T20 World Cup 2022, Match 16: India vs Pakistan - Talking points and Who Said What

Team India secured a thriller of a contest against the arch-rivals Pakistan in both teams' tournament opener of the T20 World Cup 2022. Played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), team India won the toss and opted to bowl first. 

Pakistan after suffering some early blows managed to recover and post 159 runs on the board. Middle-order batters Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed completed their fifties to bring in some help for Men in Green. For India, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya scalped three wickets each and helped India to dominate the first portion of the match. 

In reply, team India got off to a horrible start with the bat. The likes of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Axar Patel went back to the pavilion within 6.1 overs. A decent partnership was stitched between Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli as they took the game deep.

In the end, Kohli remained unbeaten after playing a surreal knock of 82 runs as Ravichandran Ashwin got the opportunity to win the game for India. The senior all-rounder calmly chipped Nawaz over mid-off to help India register a victory over the arch-rivals Pakistan.

Arshdeep and Hardik stun Pakistan

Arshdeep was simply excellent with his line and lengths with the new ball and he reaped the rewards for it. He dismissed both Babar and Rizwan to shake the structure of the Pakistani batting line-up. The rest was done by seamer Hardik Pandya who took two wickets in the same over to push back Pakistan. He finished with 3 for 30 in his four-over spell. 

Shaheen Afridi could not repeat his last year's antics against India

A lot was expected from Pakistan's express pacer Shaheen Afridi who was the top performer in both teams' previous encounter in T20 World Cup. However, the left-arm pacer couldn't do any good against the Indian batting line-up as he gave away 34 runs in his four-over quota and got no wickets. 

Winning skipper, Rohit Sharma said:

I was in the dressing room. I don't have any words left. You got to expect something like this in a game like this. We wanted to stay in the game for as long as possible. That crucial partnership was the game-changing moment for us. The pitch had something in it. There was nice carry. Some swing and seam. Good to see from the bowling perspective. They had a good partnership (Iftikhar and Masood) after that. They batted well towards the end as well. But we knew we had to bat out of our skin to chase this. Those two guys (Kohli and Pandya) are experienced. Staying calm and taking the game deep was very critical. Good for our confidence. Always crucial to get off the mark like this. We were in no position to win this. The way we won that's more pleasing for us. Hats off to Virat for the way he batted, has to be the best innings he has played for India. I would like to thank everyone, it's wonderful to see. Their support for us is very, very crucial wherever we go.

Losing skipper, Babar Azam said:

Our bowlers bowled really well. All credit to Kohli and Pandya. It wasn't easy with the new ball. We had partnerships after 10 overs. We had a chance. We tried to stick to our plans. But credit to Virat Kohli. In the middle we decided we wanted a wicket and held the spinner back. We had a lot of positives. The way Iftikhar played and the way Shan played.

Player of the match, Virat Kohli said:

It's a surreal atmosphere, I have no words, no idea how that happened. I am really lost for words. Hardik believed we can do it, if we stayed till the end. When Shaheen bowled from the pavilion end, that's when we decided to take him down. Haris is their prime bowler, and I hit those two sixes. The calculation was simple. Nawaz had one over to bowl, so if I could take Haris down, they would panic. From 28 in 8, it came down to 16 to 6. I tried to stick to my instincts. The first one was back of a hand slower ball (the one over long-on). Standing here I just feel like it was meant to be. Till today Mohali was my best innings against Australia. Today I will count this one higher. Hardik kept pushing me. The crowd has been phenomenal. You guys (fans) kept backing me and I am grateful for your support.