| ICC Men's T20 World Cup Group 2, Melbourne |
| Pakistan 159-8 (20 overs): Masood 52* (42), Iftikhar 51 (34); Pandya 3-30, Arshdeep 3-32 |
| India 160-6 (20 overs): Kohli 82* (53); Rauf 2-36, Nawaz 2-42 |
| India win by four wickets |
| Scorecard. Tables |
India defeated Pakistan in the Men's T20 World Cup final at theMEL Cricket Ground.
In a finale fitting the occasion, India took 16 from a barely believable last over to successfully chase 160 and end the game with a loud crowd of 90,289.
When they needed 13 from the final three balls, they were struggling at every stage.
A delivery that was deemed a no-ball by the umpires after a full toss from the bowler was clubbed for six by the master of nights.
With the delivery still a free hit, India were able to scamper three from the next ball.
The game swung again when the new batter was stumped only for Nawaz to bowl a wide to the new batter.
That left Ashwin needing to take one from the final delivery and he lifted the ball over the bowler's head to spark wild celebrations in the stands.
He dropped to his knees in the middle as he sprinted towards his teammates.
India and Pakistan will play Zimbabwe and the Netherlands at the same time.
There was a deafening roar as the final delivery cleared the Pakistan fielders.
The match was sold out in less than five minutes. The contest that took place in the stands will go down as one of the best T20s ever.
After 10 overs, India's top order was wiped out by Pakistan's pace attack, but Kohli was nerveless, even though he should be.
India came back into the game after a stand of 114 from 78 balls with Hardik Pandya.
The momentum swung back and forth. India charged before the 15th over from Haris Rauf and the 16th from Naseem Shah. The 17 was taken from the 18th by Kohli.
After Hardik fell to the first ball of the last over, the decision to bowl was made by Babar Azam.
He failed and allowed India to home in the most unlikely way.
The quality of India's cricket team's performances should not be overshadowed by the madness.
After KL Rahul was dismissed by Naseem Shah, the captain was caught at slip and Suryakumar was caught behind, both off Rauf's pace, but former skipper Kohli held his head high.
He scored 11 from his first 20 balls but was unperturbed as the required run-rate increased.
The chase was started by the 12th over, which included a six and two runs.
His best trick was at the end of the last over.
A back-foot punch over the bowler's head for six and a flick over the fine leg rope gave India 28 from eight balls.
India might not have had a chance in the final over if it hadn't hit those two hits.
Pakistan's batting efforts seemed to have faded by the end of the day.
India left-armer Arshdeep Singh removed Babar for a golden duck with his first ball, and in his next over he had fellow Pakistan talisman Mohammad Rizwan caught on the leg side.
Pakistan did not bat on any of the first 10 balls, so the opening burst from Arshdeep and Bhuvneshwar Kumar was very dangerous.
They were able to take positives from this crushing defeat because they were able to recover impressively.
The two teams took their time to rebuild before the other team hit four straight sixes.
After he fell to Mohammed Shami, Masood continued in relatively measured fashion amid a collapse of 5-29, the excellent India all-rounder Hardik taking three of them.
There was a surprise contribution from Shaheen who hit 16 from eight balls, including a flat six over Arshdeep's head.
It was a batting performance that showed Pakistan can win games when Babar and Rizwan don't perform.
I don't know how that happened to the player of the match. I didn't give up and continued to stay until the end. I don't know how to say anything.
This was supposed to be. It was a great moment. It was my best T20 outing. I have said before that my best batting performance was against Australia at Mohali, but today's performance was higher. It was hard to see how it could be possible.
Thank you to the fans." You supported me through the last few months.
I have no words left. In a game like this, you have to expect this.
Taking it deep was important. It's great to get off the mark in the first game.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam said, "Our bowlers did a great job and credit to them, we were able to shift the momentum."
We asked the boys to believe in themselves and execute their plans, but they did not.
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