IND vs NED: "The Match Kept Swinging Like Pendulum, But India Won The Game Due To Virat Kohli's Brilliance" - Pakistan Former Skipper Salman Butt Heaps Praise On Virat Kohli

India beat Pakistan by four wickets in their opening match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in front of 90,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, October 23. Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 82 off 53 balls led India to a thrilling victory over arch-rivals Pakistan. Kohli almost single-handedly led India to victory despite losing their top four batsmen in the first seven overs.

Former Indian captain Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya put on an impressive partnership of 113 runs for the fifth wicket. Hardik Pandya scored 40 crucial runs and took 3 wickets for 30 runs in his quota of four overs. R Ashwin smashed the ball over the infield, and there was a wild celebration among the Indian players who surrounded Kohli.

There has been a lot of debate over some of the decisions made by the on-field umpires, which many believe affected the outcome of the match. Butt feels that all of the noise is being created to undermine Kohli’s best effort.

India Wouldn’t Have Been Able To win Without Virat Kohli – Salman Butt

“There has been a lot of discussion regarding the ‘no-ball’ call. Some are saying that the decision was given after Kohli made the appeal. Others are saying that the free-hit delivery should’ve been a dead ball as it had hit the stumps,” Butt said during an interaction on his YouTube channel.

“There are two things that I can think of. Firstly, they don’t have a clue about the laws and secondly, they are undermining a superb effort put in by both the teams. The match kept swinging like a pendulum, but India, eventually, won the game due to Virat Kohli’s brilliance. They wouldn’t have been able to win the match without him,” he added.

Pakistan will play against Zimbabwe in their second match of the Super 12 stage of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 at the Optus Stadium, Perth, on Thursday, October 27. A fourth pace bowler is essential for Australian conditions, and Pakistan missed the trick in their last match. There is a possibility of taking an additional fast bowler against Zimbabwe.

Also read: IND vs PAK: “The Players Should Take These Classes And Clear Their Doubts” – Pakistan Former Skipper Salman Butt Says On No-ball Controversy