India Against Pakistan Asia Cup 2012: The Young Virat Kohli's Arrival

(Virat Kohli celebrating his century against Pakistan in Asia Cup)

It’s the year 2012 and you are watching a calm and composed player like MS Dhoni who just takes things the easy way. But the game against Pakistan needs someone who is aggressive and brings out his best game. This is where the young Virat Kohli arrived and took centre stage against bowlers such as Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, and many more. The inning that Virat Kohli played in the Asia Cup is still considered as one of his top knocks on the pitch of Mirpur and the way he played his shots gave everyone confidence that he was the one who was going to take over the Indian team’s number 3 spot in ODI once Sachin Tendulkar retired from the game.

A Brief History of the 2012 Asia Cup

In March 2012, Bangladesh hosted the Micromax Asia Cup, a major cricket tournament featuring top Asian teams. The event, held from March 11th to March 22nd, saw the participation of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, the region's Test-playing nations. As the defending champions of the 2010 Asia Cup, India entered the competition with high expectations. Fans of cricket worldwide eagerly awaited the matches, anticipating intense showdowns and standout performances from star players. Coming to the matches of the Indian team, they played their first match against Sri Lanka where they won the match by 50 runs as Virat Kohli played an amazing innings of 108 runs.

(Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli during their 133 runs partnership against Pakistan)

Coming to the second match of the Indian team, they played against Bangladesh and it was the contest where Sachin Tendulkar scored his 100th International century. However, the Indian team lost the match by 5 wickets and hence it was the Indian team that looked to be on the back foot in the tournament now. Coming to the Pakistan team, they got 2 wins from the first 2 matches played against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and hence were already through to the Finals while India had to win their next match against Pakistan to stay alive in the tournament.

How did Virat Kohli save the Indian team against Pakistan?

Coming to the 5th match of the Asia Cup 2012, Pakistan decided to bat first at the pitch of Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, and with the bat, both the Pakistan openers, Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed scored centuries while Younis Khan scored 34 balls 52 to take the team to a big total of 329 runs with the loss of 6 wickets in the 50 overs played by them. From the Indian team, it was Ashok Dinda who proved to be the best bowler as he picked up the figures of 2/47 in the 8 overs bowled by him in that innings.

Now coming to the Indian batting, it was a big total and with the inexperienced middle order, the responsibility was on the openers who had to give a brilliant start. However, Gautam Gambhir failed to prove the best start and was dismissed for a duck in the first over itself. Now, it was all on the middle order to save the match, and when Virat Kohli stepped on the field, he made sure that the team relied on him completely to reach the total. With his idol Sachin Tendulkar at the next end, he stitched a 133-run partnership to stabilise the innings.

(Virat Kohli during his knock against Pakistan in Asia Cup)

Virat Kohli completed his fifty from just 52 balls and after the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma joined him in the middle who too looked in brilliant touch. The 172-run partnership with Rohit Sharma helped the Indian team to be at the top of the contest. Virat reached his century from just 97 balls and continued the assault on the Pakistan bowlers. He smashed Wahab Riaz who was bowling at a speed of 145 kmph and it looked like he was playing against the club bowlers as was making a mockery of them.

After completing his 150 runs from 131 balls, Virat lost Rohit Sharma who made 68 runs from the 83 balls faced. At the end of the innings, he was looking to go big but failed to connect the ball well and hence was dismissed for a well-made 183 runs from 148 balls that consisted of 22 boundaries and a six to his name from it. Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni then finished off the match for the Indian team and hence gave them the victory by 6 wickets and 13 balls remaining. For his sublime innings, Virat Kohli was awarded the Man of the Match and hence it was the Indian team that managed to stay alive in the tournament.

Summary of Asia Cup 2012

After the 5th match came in the favour of India, the points table looked interesting as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh had the chance of coming into the Finals while Sri Lanka was already out of the contention. With the next match scheduled between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the Indian team hoped for Bangladesh’s loss. But the opposite happened and Bangladesh went on to win the match against Sri Lanka by 5 wickets and hence managed to make their place into the Finals as they had a better Net Run Rate than the Indian team. Thus, the Finals of the Asia Cup were scheduled between Pakistan and Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Mirpur Thana.

(Virat Kohli walking back to the pavilion after being dismissed on 183 runs)

In the Finals, Pakistan had the opportunity to bat first and they utilised it well by posting a total of 236 runs from their 50 overs and hence managed to make a game from it. In response to this, Bangladesh looked comfortable in the run chase but faltered at the end and hence lost the match by 2 runs to give Pakistan their second Asia Cup title. In the tournament, Virat Kohli was the top run scorer with 357 runs in 3 innings to his name including 2 centuries and an average of 119. Moreover, he won 2 Man of the Match awards and hence it ignited the aggression in Virat Kohli who then went on to rule for a decade, earning him the title of King Kohli. The Asia Cup 2012 proved to be a turning point in the career of Virat Kohli as everyone got to know about this young gun who could win the match in any situation for the Indian team.