'Only he could've done that': Shadab recalls Kohli's T20 WC masterclass before India vs Pakistan Asia Cup tie

India and Pakistan will lock horns in match three of the Asia Cup 2023 edition on Saturday (September 02) in Kandy. The two Asian giants will resume their cricketing rivalry after a memorable face-off in last year's T20 World Cup 2022 edition. Placed in the same group, the two teams met at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground and produced a clash for the ages.

Talking about the marquee affair at the MCG, India opted to bowl first and rode on Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh's three-fers to restrict Pakistan to 159 for 8. In reply, Rohit Sharma & Co. were tottering at 31 for 4 before Virat Kohli (53-ball 82*) and Hardik (37-ball 40)'s 113-run fifth-wicket stand revived the run-chase. Towards the end, Kohli accelerated with some superb strokeplay to take India home with four wickets in hand in a last-ball win over Babar Azam & Co.

'Don't think any other batsman in the world could have done that'

Ahead of the Indo-Pak battle in the group stage of the Asia Cup, Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan recalled Kohli's masterclass. "He is a world-class player, definitely. You have to plan a lot to face him. Anyway, in international cricket, there are a lot of mind games, because you definitely have the skill to reach that level. But how you read each other's minds, the bowler and the batter, how they read each other's minds, and it also depends on what the situation is," Shadab said on the Star Sports show 'Follow the Blues'.

Also read: 'Even if we lose to India': Former Pakistan all-rounder's message to Babar & Co. ahead of Asia Cup face-off

"The kind of batsman that Virat Kohli is, the way he has performed against us, even in the last match at the World Cup, I don't think that if any other batsman in the world was in that situation, could have done that to our bowling line-up. And the beauty of it is that he can do this at any stage and at any time," the white-ball vice-captain added.

In the 2022 T20 WC game, Shadab was the most economical bowler for the Men in Green, returning with 4-0-21-0. However, he could not get rid of Kohli. It will be interesting to see if he gets the better of him this time around. Shadab started the continental tournament with a brilliant four-fer versus Nepal.

For Kohli, he will be Rohit-led India's go-to batter in the Asia Cup. Thus, he would like to start afresh and negate the early threat of Pakistan's lethal pace trio -- Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah -- to once again aim for a big score. His ODI record versus the Asian neighbours is very healthy, scoring 536 runs -- at 48.72 -- in 13 innings with two centuries and as many fifties.

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