T20 World Cup: A look at Virat Kohli's impeccable record against Pakistan in the shortest format

India face Pakistan in what promises to be one of the biggest sporting events in recent history, with the arch-rivals locking horns in front of a hundred thousand screaming fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, kickstarting their respective T20 World Cup campaigns.

The two teams had locked horns twice in the recently-concluded Asia Cup in the UAE, both sides winning a game each, and enter the eighth edition of ICC’s showpiece T20 event on a fairly even footing.

Pakistan, however, will seek inspiration from their commanding 10-wicket hammering of the Men in Blue in Dubai in last year’s edition, which ended their World Cup jinx against India, and will hope to put up a similarly clinical performance come Sunday.

While captain Babar Azam, coach Saqlain Mushtaq and the rest of the team will be busy drawing plans for the Indian team, both for their batters and bowlers, there will be one player who might dominate discussions at the team meetings a little more than the others — Virat Kohli.

The former India captain, one of the greatest limited-overs batters of all time, has after all dished out a number of memorable performances against the Men in Green in his 14-year international career, including a 148-ball 183 in the 2012 Asia Cup that helped India chase down an imposing 330-run target with ease.

Ahead of Sunday’s contest, we take a look at his numbers against the Pakistanis in the shortest format with focus in World Cup matches:

— Kohli’s average against Pakistan in T20Is reads an impressive 67.66; the batting star having collected 406 runs in nine appearances including four half-centuries.

— VK’s average however, rises to a whopping 226 in T20 World Cup matches. Kohli has scored a half-century in three out of four appearances against Pakistan in World Cups, collecting 226 runs and getting dismissed just once — by Shaheen Shah Afridi last year in Dubai after collecting 57 runs.

— Kohli collects runs at a steady pace against Pakistan, his strike rate against them both in T20 World Cups and in other T20I matches being lower than his career strike rate of 138.09. While his scoring rate against the side in the World Cups stands at 126.25, it falls to 119.06 when taking into account his overall T20I record against Pakistan.

— Kohli (406) is also the fourth-highest run-scorer against Pakistan in T20Is after New Zealand’s Kane Williamson (538), Martin Guptill (526) and Eoin Morgan (427), though it is worth noting that the former India captain has the better average against the side among the names mentioned here.

— Kohli has the joint-most fifty-plus scores against Pakistan in T20Is (4), a record he shares with Aaron Finch, Kevin Pietersen, Shakib Al Hasan and Guptill. Only Black Caps skipper Williamson (5) has collected more.

Most 50+ scores against Pakistan in men’s T20I:
5 – Kane Williamson