2015 Top 15 Moments: No. 11 Virat Kohli masterclass guides India to World Cup win over Pakistan

Kohli was the glue that held the innings together and walked away with the accolades, but he could bat at his own pace only because Dhawan at the top and Raina towards the middle and later stages were outstanding. Dhawan, persisted with despite a run of poor form, repaid the team management’s faith with interest. Rohit fell after a reasonably brisk start to a predetermined pull that only lobbed to mid-off to give the enterprising Sohail a deserved wicket. In walked Kohli at No. 3 in the eighth over with 34 on the board.

Kohli managed to conquer the nerves that the big stage brings well, helped along by the controlled aggression of Dhawan, who didn’t put a foot wrong. Having warmed up by pulling Irfan well over the square-leg fence, Dhawan unleashed stunning strokes on both sides of the wicket, a rasping cut off Wahab Riaz that screamed over point and thudded into the boundary boards long before the bowler had completed his follow through easily the pick.

Pakistan needed a moment of inspiration to bring it back into the contest, and that came through the skipper. Kohli played Haris to midwicket, called Dhawan through, but Misbah, soon to be 41, moved with brisk alacrity and pinged the stumps down at the non-striker’s end to end a stand of 129, only the second 100-plus stand for India against Pakistan in World Cups.