Sunil Gavaskar couldn’t hold his emotions after watching India register a famous win© Twitter
India defeated Pakistan by four wickets in their 2022 T20 World Cup campaign opener at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first in the game. A disciplined and tight start from India saw them eventually restricting Pakistan to 159 for 8 in 20 overs. In pursuit of a 160-run target, India remained at bay for major part of the game, but Virat Kohli‘s 82 not out off 53 balls helped the side register a thrilling last-ball win over their arch-rivals.
As India won the match, legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar found it hard to control his emotions. While standing near the boundary rope on the last ball of the match, Gavaskar started jumping in joy as soon as Ravichandran Ashwin hit the winning run for India.
When asked about his excitement on India’s win, Gavaskar revealed the reason of such a celebration.
“Happiness is always there whenever India win a game, but the happiness is even more when they win a game against Pakistan. Last year, we faced a disappointing loss to Pakistan,” said Gavaskar in Hindi on Star Sports.
It worth noting that Pakistan had humbled India by 10 wickets when the two teams last met in a T20 World Cup in 2021.
Talking about Sunday’s game, India needed 28 runs off the last 8 balls and the match seemed to be slipping out of their hands. This is when Kohli, who eventually scored 82 not out off 53 balls, slammed Haris Rauf for two consecutive sixes to take the equation down to 16 needed off 6 balls.
Promoted
Gavaskar feels that the two sixes were a turning point in the game and that kept India alive in the tense chase.
“Had the 12 runs not been made in the last two balls, it would not have been really tough for us (India) to score 20-25 runs in the last over. The 12 runs made the difference,” said Gavaskar.
Topics mentioned in this article