Four years ago, on 23 October 2022, Virat Kohli did something impossible.

Well, not impossible. It was about 3% possible.

But he did one more thing that night. Something no bowler, no captain and no stadium could do. He made India stop paying.

A packed Melbourne Cricket Ground in afternoon sun, with players on the field and long shadows across the grass
The Melbourne Cricket Ground, here at the 2015 World Cup final. More than 90,000 people were in this stadium for India vs Pakistan in 2022. Photo: Tourism Victoria, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

The match

India vs Pakistan. T20 World Cup. Melbourne Cricket Ground. A Sunday, and the day before Diwali.

Pakistan put up 159/8. Then India's chase fell apart early, sliding to 31/4 in the seventh over. At one point, the win predictor gave India about a 3% chance.

Kohli and Hardik Pandya rebuilt slowly. But with three overs left, India still needed 48 runs. Most people had already made peace with a loss.

Virat Kohli in India's blue kit playing a shot on a green outfield
Kohli batting for India at the 2015 World Cup in Perth. Photo: Bahnfrend, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Then Kohli turned it on. Three fours off Shaheen Afridi. Two back-to-back sixes off Haris Rauf. India won off the very last ball, by four wickets, with Kohli unbeaten on 82 off 53.

After the match, he called it the best T20 innings of his career, better than his famous Mohali knock against Australia. Hard to argue.

The graph that says it all

The day after the match, a graph of UPI transactions on 23 October went viral. It was shared on Twitter by Mihir Vora, then chief investment officer at Max Life Insurance, and it tells the whole story. "Virat Kohli stopped India shopping yesterday!!" he wrote.

  • Morning: UPI payments climb steadily from 9 am. Diwali shopping is in full swing.
  • Pakistan batting: a small dip. People are watching, but some are still shopping.
  • India batting: a bigger dip. The phones are now on the TV, not on the payment app.
  • Kohli's assault: a drastic dip, roughly between 5 and 6 pm. India basically stopped paying.
  • After the match: payments bounce right back.

Millions of people put their phones down at the same time. For one man.

A Paytm stall with a white umbrella on a Kolkata pavement, next to other payment stalls
A Paytm stall on a Kolkata street in 2017. Phone payments like this run on UPI, which is what the graph tracked. Photo: Biswarup Ganguly, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Why this is a big deal

Timing is everything here. This was the eve of Diwali, at the end of one of the busiest shopping weeks of the year. Sweets, gifts, clothes, crackers. Everyone was buying something.

And for about an hour, Kohli beat all of it.

Small lit candles arranged on a dark floor in front of a brass bowl of floating candles and flowers
Diwali lamps. The match fell on the eve of the festival. Photo: humdingor, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

To be fair, UPI covers all kinds of payments, not just festive shopping. And a graph like this shows a pattern, not a precise count. But the shape is hard to ignore. When Kohli is batting against Pakistan, India pauses.

The final word

Some players win matches. Some win hearts.

Kohli made a whole country stop paying, the day before Diwali.

That is what Kohli achieved that night.

Sources

  1. Business Today, "Virat Kohli stopped Diwali shopping: Sharp fall in UPI transactions during India's batting against Pakistan", 24 October 2022: the graph, Mihir Vora, the 5 to 6 pm dip
  2. Mihir Vora on Twitter, 24 October 2022: the original post with the graph
  3. ICC, "'I am really lost for words': Virat Kohli after his match-winning knock against Pakistan", 23 October 2022
  4. Khaleej Times, match report and scorecard, 23 October 2022
  5. SportsTiger, "Even 1% chance is enough to win": Kohli on the 3% win predictor