TOP 5 T20I Innings by Indian Cricketers

#4 Kohli’s 82 off 51 vs AUS, World T20 at Chandigarh, Mar 27 2016.

This match was a knockout game for both the teams and there was a lot of hype surrounding this match with India looking for revenge after their loss to Aussies in 2015 World cup semifinal. Smith won the toss and opted to bat first. Australia set India a decent target of 161 on a slow pitch where the batsmen struggled to time the ball.

Kohli walked out to bat in the 4th over of the chase and further added to his reputation as the best chaser in cricketing history. He started with back to back boundaries off Hazlewood and then kept taking singles and doubles off the good balls. Kohli’s penchant to pick the gaps was visible throughout this incredible knock.

39 was needed off the last 3 overs and finally, Kohli decided to finish things for good. The first ball of the 18th over bowled by Faulkner was dismissed for a boundary with an authoritative pull shot. The second ball was a flawless 4th stump yorker from Faulkner and against any other batsman in the world it would have been a dot ball. But this was Virat Kohli and he played a superlative square drive for another four.

There were deafening chants of “Kohli, Kohli” in the stadium and he gave the crowd a reason to cheer louder as he deposited the 3rd ball of that over long off. But he was not finished yet.

With 20 needed from 2 overs, he faced Coulter-Nile. The 1st ball was a well disguised slower delivery and Kohli was beaten. The next ball was gloriously driven past the point fielder. He followed it up with a pull shot and an unbelievable inside out shot, effectively ending the chase and taking India to semifinals.

In modern day cricket where slogging has become the fashion, this was an innings of pure class from VK and this knock gave a new meaning for the term “ calculated assault”.