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Islamabad: There are India-Pakistan matches, and then there is that MCG match, 2022 T20 World Cup. The one Pakistan almost had in its pocket for nearly three hours, before Virat Kohli walked in like cinema’s final-act hero and changed the whole script.

Singer Asim Azhar has now recalled meeting Virat Kohli the very next day after Pakistan’s heartbreaking loss to India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Asim, who was present in the stadium, said Pakistan were dominating most of the game and for almost three hours, it genuinely looked like the match was theirs.

But then came Kohli, at a time when Virat was coming out of a long rough patch, he produced one of the most iconic T20 knocks ever, scoring an unbeaten 82 off 53 balls as India chased 160 at the MCG. The ICC later called that innings one of the greatest moments in T20 World Cup history.

Asim shared that when he met Virat the next day, even Kohli himself admitted that he did not fully know how it had happened. And honestly, that is what made the innings even more unreal. It was not just skill. It was pressure, instinct, madness and greatness all rolled into one night.

“That moment…I had no idea it would happen. It was the next morning after Pakistan lost to India at the MCG. Honestly, when we watched that match live, whether in the stadium or on TV, I think for almost three to three-and-a-half hours, Pakistan was winning that game,” Asim said in the latest episode of TV show Hasna Mana Hai.

“And when something like that happens right in front of your eyes, when one person single-handedly takes the game away from you. The funny thing is, when I met him the next day, he himself said, ‘I still don’t know how that happened,’” he added.

What also stood out was Kohli’s appreciation for Babar Azam’s batting. In a rivalry where fans turn every small thing into a war, hearing one superstar praise another across the border always hits differently.

Asim also admitted that he went completely blank in front of Virat, and honestly, who wouldn’t? No matter what field you belong to, meeting a superstar of another craft has that effect. “It’s natural, when you meet a top superstar you really admire, that’s what happens,” he said.

For cricket fans, especially after that MCG night, Kohli was not just a player. He was the man who turned Pakistan’s almost-win into India’s unforgettable comeback.