‘Dimaag Ke Upar extra Dimaag Lagaya’ - Virat Kohli hails Ravichandran Ashwin for his presence of mind in final over clash against Pakistan

India earned two points in their opening Super 12 fixture of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 against arch-rivals Pakistan in a thriller of a contest. Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya stitched a 113-run partnership that completely changed the game and shifted the momentum in team India’s favour.

However, what followed was a last-over drama wherein Mohammad Nawaz picked up the wickets of Hardik and Dinesh Karthik alongside a ‘controversial’ no-ball to Virat Kohli. In came Ravichandran Ashwin when the team required two runs off the last ball and the suspense began to build up rapidly.

The lower-order batter calmly allowed Mohammad Nawaz’s delivery to slide past the leg side and it was called a wide by the on-field umpire Rod Tucker. With just one required to win now, Ashwin swiftly hit it over the head of the mid-off fielder helping the team win the high-octane match.

Virat Kohli lauded calmness of Ravichandran Ashwin

It is safe to say that the scenario was quite tense when Ashwin came onto the crease to bat. However, the spinner used his experience of playing under pressure and stayed cool. An ecstatic Kohli spoke in a post-match interview with Star Sports and hailed Ashwin’s calmness.

"When you need 15-16 runs per over, and then the equation comes down to two runs off two balls, people can get relaxed or over-excited that this target is almost achieved. Then Dinesh Karthik got out, I told Ashwin to hit over the covers,” said the match-winner in the interview.

"But uss time pe Ash ne dimaag ke upar extra dimaag lagaya (Ashwin used his brain at that point of time). That was a very brave thing to do, he came inside the line and the ball turned out to be a wide. The situation was that if the ball goes into the gap, we will end up winning and that is what happened," added Kohli.