It’s the story of the last over drama of the T20 World Cup 2022 against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), where India found themselves under pressure. They lost Hardik Pandya on the very first ball before their wicket-keeper batter, Dinesh Kathik, walked into the middle.

After the no-ball from Mohammed Nawaz, Virat Kohli swung his willow on the free hit as the ball hit the stumps with the batters coming back for three runs. Karthik revealed that the Delhi-born had no idea of where the ball went after it disturbed the stumps when Kohli missed the high full-toss.

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“Virat didn't know where the ball went, so I had to alert him at that stage. I was pretty shocked because it's a shot I normally play, and I played the sweep shot. He bowled it right into my pads, and I knew that was what he would do because of the field set. So it was all set but just not meant to be.” The Chennai-born revealed during an interaction on Cricbuzz.

Dinesh Karthik looks back at last-over drama against Pakistan of T20 World Cup 2022

Karthik praised Ravichandran Ashwin for his right approach, which he called the ‘gully cricket approach.’ In that case, Ashwin left the first ball, which went into the leg side with the umpires calling it a wide ball. Later, he drove the full ball over the covers for a single to complete the successful chase.

“I didn't know where the ball was, but the best part was Ashwin came in and played a bit of gully cricket and got it done quite nicely. He said that happened because he had played so much gully cricket in his building and his colony. So he is so used to doing it when somebody bowls down the leg, you move and get an extra ball.” Karthik addressed.

“At that time, I was literally just wishing that the Virat Kohli - Hardik Pandya partnership would be fruitful because I was padded up next. I was just doing my usual calculations as the overs went one by one. And I always have two images in my mind - one I am batting with Hardik and one I am batting with Virat Kohli.” The current RCB mentor concluded.