I know that I can do a lot of the power-hitting towards the end: Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli ranked his memorable knock against Pakistan as one of his finest, especially after the chaos in that final over, where the game switched balance from one side to the other with Ravichandran Ashwin lofting Nawaz off the last ball of the game to seal an incredible win.

Kohli came out to bat after Rahul fell early to Naseem Shah. While Kohli was in the middle, India lost a flurry of wickets at one end, with Rohit, Surya and Axar Patel's dismissals jeopardising Team India’s chase with the finish line far away.

Virat Kohli started off on a very slow note, scoring 12 off his first 21 balls. However, once he got going, it was a showdown of confidence and imperious domination where he took India home almost single-handedly in the final three overs.

Talking to Star Sports about the first few deliveries faced by him, Kohli said, “When I was 12 of 21, I was like 'I am really messing this game up. I am not putting the ball in the gaps'. But when you have experience and understand the value of batting deep, that's always been my role, playing for India. I know that I can do a lot of the power-hitting towards the end of the innings.”

He also sang paeans for his teammate Hardik Pandya as the latter clawed onto the pitch guiding Team India to a crucial stage that helped the former Indian captain to eye the finish line. Talking about Hardik, Kohli said, “Honestly, I was feeling a lot of pressure at that stage. But then when he came in and he hit a few boundaries, I kind of opened up. That partnership, we didn't even realize when we got to our 100. We kept talking, we kept running hard and kept watching their body language. We knew it would turn at some stage, it turned quite late to be honest. We would have liked to do it earlier.”

Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya's heroics and the win against arch-rivals Pakistan will have given Team India plenty of confidence heading into their contest against the Netherlands on Thursday.