The Indian team kickstarted their T20 World Cup on high as they defeated Pakistan by four wickets. It was Virat Kohli’s knock that sailed India’s boat on Sunday. He scored an unbeaten 82 runs against a lethal pace attack of Pakistan. 

Former India coach Ravi Shastri spoke to The Indian Express and said, “Perhaps, it’s best to start with a feeling that I didn’t have when I was watching the greatest T20 knock by Virat: I wasn’t surprised. I was waiting for this to happen. I knew this would happen in Australia. Just check his record here – the pitches suit him plus he loves playing on these grounds and in front of the fans here. His record against Pakistan has always been good and it was a big situation: cometh the hour, cometh the stage, cometh the man”.

“There is also a neat touch of deja-vu. In 1985, at the World Championship of Cricket tournament, our first game was against Pakistan at the MCG in Melbourne. We won. We would beat them again in the final at the Big G. Now, if India Pakistan face off again in the final, wouldn’t it be great? Is there an Audi going around in this tournament?” he further added.

India will be playing against the Netherlands on Thursday at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami.

Netherlands squad:  Max ODowd, Vikramjit Singh, Bas de Leede, Colin Ackermann, Tom Cooper, Scott Edwards (c & wk), Tim Pringle, Logan van Beek, Shariz Ahmad, Fred Klaassen, Paul van Meekeren, Timm van der Gugten, Roelof van der Merwe, Stephan Myburgh, Teja Nidamanuru, Brandon Glover.