Virat Kohli hugs, MS Dhoni chats with Pakistan players, 'spirit of Cricket' prevails, say netizens after T20 World Cup clash

In the match, Babar Azam broke a 29-year-old jinx by guiding Pakistan to an emphatic 10-wicket victory over India in Dubai.

New Delhi: Pictures and videos of Team India skipper Virat Kohli hugging Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan and mentor MS Dhoni chatting with other players after the eoic clash between the two arch-rivals on Sunday (October 25, 2021) has gone viral on the Internet. While some said that the 'spirit of Cricket' prevailed after India's crushing defeat, others said that India and Pakistan are 'rivals' but not 'enemies'.

The pictures were also shared by former India cricketer Irfan Pathan and the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Spirit of cricket. Sprit of human beings. #remember don’t let ppl fool you. pic.twitter.com/2ZXBR8RpRL — Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) October 24, 2021

This. #INDvPAK #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/tnjAYNO0BC — Tavleen Singh Aroor (@Tavysingh) October 24, 2021

Spirit of Cricket
Well done Pakistan...@babarazam258 @iMRizwanPak @msdhoni @simadwasim pic.twitter.com/RdMWORmRbp

— Rais Kamran (@Kamr18Chachar) October 24, 2021

"This is the true story of India-Pakistan cricket outside all the hype and posturing," ICC quoted commentator Harsha Bhogala as saying after MS Dhoni was seen interacting with Pakistan former captain Shoaib Malik, all-rounder Imad Wasim, and current skipper Babar Azam.

@shoaib100mph speaks EXCLUSIVELY to Zee News English after Pakistan beat India in #T20WorldCup match#ShoaibAkhtar pic.twitter.com/OD5POM9Kb9 — Zee News English (@ZeeNewsEnglish) October 25, 2021

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ICC (@icc)

Pakistani players came to talk to MS Dhoni after the match pic.twitter.com/DHmXyMCRhK — Kaushik Raj (@kaushikrj6) October 24, 2021

Earlier in the match, a supremely stylish Babar Azam broke a 29-year-old jinx by guiding his team to an emphatic 10-wicket victory over India in Dubai, their first in 13 attempts against the bitter arch-rivals at a global event.

SCENES! #WeHaveWeWill pic.twitter.com/wGA8uszSFj — Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 24, 2021

Virat Kohli's half-century went in vain as Babar (68 not out off 52 balls) along with Mohammed Rizwan (79 not out off 55 balls) chased the target of 152 runs in just 17.5 overs.

It, notably, was India's first-ever loss in a T20 International by 10 wickets, while Pakistan won by such a margin for the first time.

Time to reflect and come back stronger #TeamIndia #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/ZGvkQAMASy — BCCI (@BCCI) October 24, 2021

Post the match, Virat Kohli said that he accepts the defeat and will take the learnings from it but made it clear that he has treated all opposition with equal respect.

"Cricket is beyond and above anyone else and we definitely respect the game and we never take any opposition lightly and neither do we differentiate between the opposition," he said.

"On the day, if we haven't played good we accept it and give credit to opposition as well. We don't create any other scenarios of knowing what went wrong and correct that move forward in a positive manner," Kohli added.