WATCH Virat Kohli gets to half-century in crunch game against Pakistan during T20 WC encounter

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India captain Virat Kohli is a man for the big occasion. While he loves the big stages and the big opponents, even when the chips of the Indian team are down and out, it is hard to bet against the class of a champion player like Kohli. The same was evident during the Indian batting innings against Pakistan in their ongoing T20 World Cup match at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.

When India's openers fell prey to a sensational opening spell from Pakistan's Shaheen Afridi, it was the Indian captain who came out of his crease to counter the swing and then put up quite a show, almost single-handedly taking the charge to the Men in Green who otherwise had a dominant performance with the ball.

The right-handed batting genius from India reached the landmark in the 18th over of the innings when he completed a two in the first ball of the over. Kohli completed his half-century with the help of four boundaries and one six.

Here is the video of Kohli's fifty:

The stand-out feature of Kohli's innings (57) was how he absorbed the pressure of early wickets to top-score in Indian innings. Fans and critics had termed India to be the favourites ahead of the match and it is only due to Kohli's innings coupled with a handy contribution from Rishabh Pant (39) that India have managed to give their bowlers a reasonable score with which they can fight.

Meanwhile, the Men in Green would now fancy their chances of preventing India from continuing their winning streak in the World Cups in this match after having restricted the Indian team to a chasable total. They have batters like Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman in their ranks along with experienced campaigners in Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez.

If Pakistan indeed manage to beat India it would be a historic feat as it would be their first win over India in any World Cup encounter. To date, the Indian team has a 100 per cent win record over their arch-rivals in World Cup tournaments and they enjoy a 12-0 head to head boasting claim.