There were 90,293 people in attendance at the MCG. Millions more were watching on via the TV. And no-one, not one person, had ever seen anything like this.
Sure, Virat Kohli was immense. Nothing new there. Haris Rauf was rapid. The crowd was a riot of colour and noise. Tell us something we don’t know.
But three byes off a stump? With the biggest game in the world on the line? Nobody could believe what they were seeing.
The bare facts are, India won their T20 World Cup match by four wickets off the final delivery. In one of the most remarkable games of cricket ever played. Can these two play every week? Please, make it happen.
Ravichandran Ashwin chipped the winning runs over mid-off, while the real hero admired his work from the non-striker’s end. Kohli was 82 not out at that point, having chaperoned his side from the brink of defeat all the way to the most stunning victory.
His strokeplay was one thing. With eight balls left, India needed 28. At that point, Kohli played one of history’s greatest shots, somehow lofting a back-of-a-length rocket from Rauf back over his head for six.
The following delivery was more conventional, but worth the same on the scoreboard. It left India needing a more manageable 16. Still no gimme, but with Kohli there, possible.
Mohammed Nawaz’s final over of left-arm spin could not be held back any longer. It was Pakistan’s only remaining option.
And he started well enough, too, having Hardik Pandya, with whom Kohli had shared a 113-run partnership, caught at cover. Dinesh Karthik arrived, took a single, and it was at that point that Kohli’s force of personality took over.
Faced with the king, Nawaz disintegrated. He lobbed up a waist-high full-toss, which Kohli muscled over the rope for six.
It was a no-ball, meaning the next ball was a free-hit. At which point, the world really did go mad. The next delivery was a wide, so the free-hit remained.
Then Nawaz, finally, found his range. He beat Kohli, bowled him – and the ball ran away for three.
Off the next delivery, Karthik was stumped. India still required two. Nawaz had a shot at redemption – only to fire the next delivery past Ashwin down the leg-side.
With one needed, Ashwin did what was needed. The MCG scarcely had breath left to celebrate.
Kohli even did a good line in analysis immediately after. “It's a surreal atmosphere,” he said after receiving his player of the match award. “I honestly have no words. I have no idea how that happened.”
Which is about the long and the short of it.
What had happened, in simple terms, was that Pakistan made 159-8 in a seesawing innings. It included fifties for both Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed, and three wickets each for Pandya and Arshdeep Singh.
Run scoring through was tricky on a fast pitch which favoured the quicks. Only Iftikhar enjoyed a brief spell of freedom, when he hit four sixes in the space of six deliveries from Ashwin and Axar Patel.
It was an object lesson for the Indian batters. They absorbed it cannily, saving their harshest treatment for the spin of Nawaz, while – until the final deliveries of Rauf – taking their medicine against the quicks.
With 2-36, Rauf really did not deserve to be on the losing team. Up until the final two deliveries he sent down, it seemed certain he would not be.
And then Kohli – and fate - took over. His captain, Rohit Sharma, could think of no higher tribute to what he had just witnessed. “It has to go off as not one of his best, but the best innings he has played for India,” Sharma said.
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Funchal via Lisbon, with a connecting flight with Air Portugal. Economy class returns cost from Dh3,845 return including taxes.
The trip
The WalkMe app can be downloaded from the usual sources. If you don’t fancy doing the trip yourself, then Explore offers an eight-day levada trails tour from Dh3,050, not including flights.
The hotel
There isn’t another hotel anywhere in Madeira that matches the history and luxury of the Belmond Reid's Palace in Funchal. Doubles from Dh1,400 per night including taxes.
HWJN
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MATCH INFO
Barcelona 5 (Lenglet 2', Vidal 29', Messi 34', 75', Suarez 77')
Valladolid 1 (Kiko 15')
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Iraq negotiating over Iran sanctions impact
- US sanctions on Iran’s energy industry and exports took effect on Monday, November 5.
- Washington issued formal waivers to eight buyers of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue limited imports. Iraq did not receive a waiver.
- Iraq’s government is cooperating with the US to contain Iranian influence in the country, and increased Iraqi oil production is helping to make up for Iranian crude that sanctions are blocking from markets, US officials say.
- Iraq, the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped last month at a record 4.78 million barrels a day, former Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi said on Oct. 20. Iraq exported 3.83 million barrels a day last month, according to tanker tracking and data from port agents.
- Iraq has been working to restore production at its northern Kirkuk oil field. Kirkuk could add 200,000 barrels a day of oil to Iraq’s total output, Hook said.
- The country stopped trucking Kirkuk oil to Iran about three weeks ago, in line with U.S. sanctions, according to four people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t allowed to speak to media.
- Oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-largest supplier, have slumped since President Donald Trump announced in May that he’d reimpose sanctions. Iran shipped about 1.76 million barrels a day in October out of 3.42 million in total production, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
- Benchmark Brent crude fell 47 cents to $72.70 a barrel in London trading at 7:26 a.m. local time. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was 25 cents lower at $62.85 a barrel in New York. WTI held near the lowest level in seven months as concerns of a tightening market eased after the U.S. granted its waivers to buyers of Iranian crude.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
SCORES IN BRIEF
New Zealand 153 and 56 for 1 in 22.4 overs at close
Pakistan 227
(Babar 62, Asad 43, Boult 4-54, De Grandhomme 2-30, Patel 2-64)
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
