Ahead of the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025, Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya recalled the two maximums slammed by stalwart batter Virat Kohli on the bowling of Pakistan’s right-arm seamer Haris Rauf on the last two balls of the penultimate (19th) over during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. Virat Kohli played an unbeaten knock of 82 runs off 53 balls in the match in front of a crowd of 90,000 people. He scored two magnificent sixes on the last two balls of the penultimate over which was bowled by right-arm seamer Haris Rauf and brought the Men in Blue back into the game.
“Pure emotion and how excited we were. You know the shot that he played that was kind of breaking the opponent’s back because that kind of sends the statement to the bowler who also has to bowl in front of 90-100 thousand people and millions watching back home. When you stay in the fight, you stay in the hunt, you know, a lot of things can come your way. And I think this is one of the iconic games which will always be there,” Hardik Pandya said in an interview with ICC.
Further in the video, the 31-year-old player shared his “very overwhelming” experience from the T20 World Cup 2022 clash in Melbourne between India and Pakistan.
“When I entered the field and just looking at that atmosphere and the kind of energy which everyone was bringing in as fans and spectators, it was just amazing. I just had to get used to it. Though I have played many, many games, it was just very overwhelming where I was very excited and happy to see this kind of atmosphere for a game and which obviously it was India, Pakistan. It just goes a one-notch up,” the right-hand batter said.
“It is the rivalry for years, which we’ve been having on the field. At that same point of time, there’s so many emotions, engagement, and excitement. It’s a clash people remember for it, and they wait for it,” the bowler added.
The ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 is set to take place in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates from February 19 to March 9. The Rohit Sharma-led side will play all their matches in Dubai.
The biggest match of the tournament between two arch-rivals India and Pakistan will be played on February 23. India will start its campaign against Bangladesh on February 20. India’s last league match will be against New Zealand on March 2.
India squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja.
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