Numbers game: Kohli, the master of run chases!

Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten half-century to steer India to a six-wicket victory against Pakistan in the World Twenty20 in Kolkata, on Saturday.

The 27-year-old made batting look ridiculously easy on a difficult track and his scintillating unbeaten 55 was the difference between the sides in a rain-hit game reduced to 18 overs per team.

India, chasing a target of 119, slumped to 23 for three in the fifth over before Kohli and Yuvraj Singh (24) shared a match-high 61-run partnership to steady things at Eden Gardens.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed a six to level the scores and then took a single to seal victory with 13 balls to spare as India maintained an unbeaten World Cup record against their arch-rivals.

Rajneesh Gupta presents the interesting numbers from the match:

109.16 Virat Kohli's average in successful run-chases in Twenty20 Internationals -- the highest for any player batting for 10 or more times in this format. Interestingly, Kohli averages 83.97 in the successful chases in One-Day Internationals.

100 Percent -- India’s record against Pakistan in a World Cup / World T20 game – 11 out of 11. India have won all six in 50-over World Cups and all five in World Twenty20.

11-0 India’s against Pakistan in World Cup / World Twenty20 matches is the most one-sided rivalry in these matches. The details for matches between major teams are given below:

(* excluding one no-result game)

8 Number of player of the match awards won by Kohli in Twenty20 Internationals -– most by an Indian player. He went ahead of Yuvraj Singh’s tally of seven awards.

7 Number of fifties scored by Kohli in World Twenty20 -- most by an Indian batsman. He went past Rohit Sharma’s tally of six. Interestingly, Kohli has done so in only 13 innings as against Rohit’s 22. Only Chris Gayle has more fifty-plus scores (9) than Virat in World Twenty20 (Mahela Jayawardene has also reached fifty seven times).

4 Number of times Shahid Afridi has captained Pakistan in an international cricket match against India. He has lost all! Twice in Twenty20 Internationals and twice in One-Day Internationals.