At the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), in front of 90,293 spectators, India was in serious difficulty at 31/4 in 6.1 overs. Axar Patel was run out due to confusion over a bogus single in the middle, and Hardik Pandya entered the field to stand alongside Virat Kohli at the wicket.
Minute by minute, an Indian victory appeared to be unattainable. Kohli and Pandya took their time before launching a remarkable counterattack that helped India win by four wickets thanks to their match-winning partnership of 113 runs off 77 deliveries.
Kohli was at his absolute best with 82 not out off 53 balls, while Pandya got 40 off 37 balls. But the sprinting between the wickets by the pair during their partnership for the fifth wicket, which placed pressure on Pakistan, was something that former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming took note of.
In his undefeated 82, which included six fours and four sixes, Kohli scored 20 singles, seven twos, and one three (the byes off the free knock that hit his stumps in the penultimate over). Pandya, on the other hand, scored 40 runs off 37 balls with 18 singles, three twos, a four, and two sixes.
"They ran between the wickets with excellent fitness. Although he is getting older, he has always had intensity surrounding him, and the sprinting between the wickets was essential to his ability to retain it. They increased the stakes with those and sneaked quite a few runs, putting the Pakistani players under pressure. Those are the small things you don't notice."
"What I appreciate about Virat Kohli is his intensity. It's the in-between stuff that shows gamesmanship, experience, and greatness, not just the spectacular shots like the six he had (against Haris Rauf in the 19th over) "explained Fleming, who is presently Chennai Super Kings' head coach, on ESPNcricinfo's T20 Time Out programme following the match.
Fleming also believed that Haris Rauf, a pacer, should have bowled yorkers in the dying overs because Kohli scored 39 runs at a strike rate of 278.57 off the 14 balls he faced at that point in the game. Rauf gave up 12 runs off his final two deliveries in the penultimate 19th over while Kohli hit jaw-dropping sixes down the ground and over fine leg.
"I bring up the wide yorker because if you can deliver it, it's really difficult to hit when you need a boundary or sixes (right). And I've witnessed him doing it on expansive, secure bounds. I was astonished that neither side employed this technique. Particularly when you take the lead in the match, which Pakistan did. In that game, they were in charge."
"India needed to make sixes in order to regain momentum and win the match. The best ball to bowl in these circumstances was a back of a length, but you should still employ a wide yorker because they never went wide. I believed that if Haris Rauf had taken a little more initiative, the outcome might have been better (for him). However, since this was all done in retrospect, he had brought a magnificent spell "Finally, he said.