T20 World Cup (Men’s), 2022
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
Individual matches
India beats Pakistan
Partha Bhaduri, Oct 24, 2022: The Times of India
From: Partha Bhaduri, Oct 24, 2022: The Times of India
Melbourne : Welcome to the T20 World Cup. Welcome to Virat Kohli’s world. All 90,293 breathless spectators, Indians and Pakistanis, stood up as one at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to applaud the brilliance of India’s most complete all-format batter after he hit 82 not out off 53 balls to pull off one of India’s most memorable victories in their T20 history.
Kohli said he “will count this higher” than his 82 off 51 balls against Australia in Mohali (in 2016 T20 WC), which “was my best innings” so far. Kohli is back, and there can be no better news for India as they begin their World Cup campaign in difficult conditions in Australia. He tookcontrol of a chase of 160 in the company of Hardik Pandya on a pacy, bouncy pitch after India had collapsed to 31/4 in 6. 1 overs. Kohli and Pandyabelieved, putting on 113 runs for the fifth wicket as India got out of jail by four wickets.
Details
Oct 24, 2022: The Times of India
May be he had started doubting himself, maybe the cobwebs of the mind had kept him from playing at his best. Maybe he needed this biggest of stages to free himself from self-imposed shackles.
It was only when KL Rahul and the others rushed to give him a bear hug that Kohli was jolted out of his reverie. He merely pointed a finger up at the sky, as if to remind himself of his capabilities. The younger Kohli would have jumped and screamed in exultation after playing a knock like this under extreme pressure. This Kohli is older, more calculated, more measured but as hungry.
Kohli later revealed that after the end of 18 overs, with India still needing 31 off the last two, he decided he would take on Pakistan’s most fiery, best bowler on the day, Haris Rauf. “If I could take Haris down, they would panic,” he said. It was an approach only the most audacious, the most desperate or the most talented can take. It came off.
The fifth ball, Kohli came up with an incredible shot, a six straight over the bowler’s head which Hardik Pandya later described, shaking his head, as “unbelievable”. The next one was another six, a six over fine leg, and Rauf, the MCG veteran who plays for Melbourne Stars, was down on hisknees. The momentum had shifted. “That was the moment when we knew it had come our way,” skipper Rohit Sharma later said.
“It’s a surreal atmosphere. ” Kohli said, “I honestly have no words. I have no idea how it happened. Hardik kept telling me, just believe we can stay till the end. I’m lost for words. All these months when I was struggling, you guys kept me going. ”
India still needed 16 from the last over but they knew they would face the slow left-arm spin of Mohammad Nawaz. “I bowled out the quicks earlier because we needed wickets. That was the call I took,” Pakistan skipper Babar Azam would say later. The first ball, Hardik mistimed a slog straight to cover point. Fourth ball, Kohli hit a full toss for six, and it was called a no-ball for height! Pakistan was choking. One wide and three byes later, with two needed off two, Dinesh Karthik was stumped before Ashwin sealed the deal. There was a top-order wobble earlier in the day too, when Pakistan batted. It was Arshdeep Singh who starred with the ball, getting Babar Azam out first ball and showing that precocious talent had translated to a proven performer. But India still leaked 99 runs in the last 10 overs as Iftikhar Ahmed and Shan Masood scored half-centuries to give Pakistan’s quicks something to defend. In the end, Kohli’s brilliance overshadowed them all.
Kohli’s back as king, lights up WC with cracker of an innings
Oct 24, 2022: The Times of India
Melbourne : Welcome to the T20 World Cup. Welcome to Virat Kohli’s world. All 90,293 breathless spectators, Indians and Pakistanis, stood up as one at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to applaud the brilliance of India’s most complete all-format batter after he hit 82 not out off 53 balls to pull off one of India’s most memorable victories in their T20 history. Kohli said he “will count this higher” than his 82 off 51 balls against Australia in Mohali (in 2016 T20 WC), which “was my best innings” so far.Kohli is back, and there can be no better news for India as they begin their World Cup campaign in difficult conditions in Australia. He tookcontrol of a chase of 160 in the company of Hardik Pandya on a pacy, bouncy pitch after India had collapsed to 31/4 in 6.1 overs. Kohli and Pandyabelieved, putting on 113 runs for the fifth wicket as India got out of jail by four wickets.
India vs. West Indies
4th T20I: Lauderhill: India wins
August 7, 2022: The Times of India
Lauderhill: Rishabh Pant and skipper Rohit Sharma missed out on big knocks but made useful enough contributions to propel India to 191 for 5 and series-clinching 59-run win in the fourth T20I against West Indies. Rohit (33 off 16 balls) and Pant (44 off 31 balls) were the main contributors while Axar Patel struck some meaty blows towards the end to finish unbeaten on 20 off 8 balls. Sanju Samson was more subdued during his 30 not out off 23 balls, often failing to find the boundaries, which prevented India from reaching 200. Avesh Khan took 2/17 while Arshdeep Singh polished off the tail to return figures of 3/12. It was Axar (2/48) and Avesh who rocked the West Indies chase. Ravi Bishnoi finished with 2/27.
For West Indies left-arm pacer Obed McCoy, cricket indeed turned out to be a great leveller as he was smoked for 66 runs off his 4 overs only a week after he had taken a career-best six-wicket haul in the second ODI. It was the most expensive spell by a West Indies bowler in T20Is. Rohit’s new approach in powerplay might not have produced many big knocks save a half-century but he is certainly showing the way with positive intent upfront. McCoy went for three sixes and 25 runs in an over. In those three, Rohit had a couple -a pull over deep midwicket and a flat one over long-off. The one that got him maximum cheers was a slog swept six off Akeal Hosein (1/ 28 in 4 overs), but in the very next delivery, which was a tad slower and the length slightly shorter, brought about his downfall. But Rohit’s 33 in a stand of 53 in less than five overs set the tone.
PTI Brief scores: India 191/5 (R Pant 44, Rohit 33, S Samson 30*; A Joseph 2/29) beat West Indies 132 in 19. 1 overs (Pooran 24, R Powell 24; Arshdeep 3/12, Avesh 2/17) by 59 runs.
Lauderhill: India wins
August 8, 2022: The Times of India
Lauderhill: Shreyas Iyer roared back to form with a stroke-filled 64 while the spinners picked up all the 10 wickets as India recorded yet another one-sided 88-run victory over West Indies to wrap up the five-match T20 International series by a comprehensive 4-1 margin.
It was Iyer’s half-century and useful contributions from Deepak Hooda (38 off 25 balls) and stand-in skipper Hardik Pandya’s (28 off 16 balls) cameo that propelled India to 188 for 7 in 20 overs after being put in to bat.
Then, Pandya handed the new ball to Axar Patel (31-15-3), who quickly removed makeshift opener Jason Holder (0), Shamarah Brooks (13) and Devon Thomas (10) with three arm balls on a track where balls stopped and gripped off the surface.
West Indies were all out for 100 runs inside 16 overs as one of the most lopsided T20I bilateral series came to an end even though India won’t be complaining having ticked most of the boxes. Once Kuldeep Yadav (4-1-12-3) caught rival skipper Nicholas Pooran (3) plumb in-front with a flighted delivery, there was no way that the West Indies could have made a comeback on a track which wasn’t easy for batting.
It started getting slower with the passage of time and despite Shimron Hetmyer’s (56 off 35 balls) resistance, it was never going to be enough as the Caribbean batting lineup never had the wherewithal to cope with the quality of Indian spinners.
Ravi Bishnoi (2. 4-0-16-4) also got into the act and snapped his share of wickets as India’s spin troika varied their lengths and pace with ease to keep the Windies batters on tenterhooks.
But the day belonged to Iyer, who was able to release the pressure piling upon him with a blistering knock as the Indian team, even without its regular top-order, scored above par on a slowish track.
PTI Brief scores: India 188/7 (Iyer 64, Hooda 38, Smith 3-33) beat West Indies 100 (Hetmyer 56, Bishnoi 4-16, Kuldeep 3-12, Axar 3-15) by 88 runs
India vs. Bangladesh
From: Nov 11, 2022: The Times of India
See graphic:
Records set in, and highlights of, the Bangladesh-India match in the T20 World Cup, 2022
India vs. England
India loses to England in SFs
From: Partha Bhaduri, Nov 11, 2022: The Times of India
See graphic:
Scoreboard, India vs. England, T20s- Semi Finals, 2022
India vs. Pakistan
India, Pakistan reach semifinals
From: Nov 7, 2022: The Times of India
See graphic:
India, Pakistan reach semifinals
