
During the drinks break in the 40th over of India’s chase, KL Rahul spoke to Virat Kohli and asked him to stay at the crease until the end. With India needing 65 runs from 60 balls against Australia on Tuesday in the Champions Trophy semi-final in Dubai, Rahul took charge and started playing aggressively.
Rahul hit a four and then a six in his next five balls to ease the pressure on Kohli. After that, he rotated the strike so that Kohli could face more balls when India needed 40 runs from 45 balls, and Kohli was just 16 runs short of his 52nd ODI century.
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Even though Kohli had been in control throughout the chase, he tried an unnecessary slog sweep against Adam Zampa and got caught at long-on. This unusual dismissal made KL Rahul, who was at the non-striker’s end, very upset.
Rahul said to Kohli as he walked past him, “Main maar raha that naa,” meaning “I was going after the bowling,” as shared by 45kennyat7PM on Twitter. https://x.com/i/status/1896949867458765046
In the dressing room, coach Gautam Gambhir also looked upset and mumbled something to the support staff and the players sitting nearby.
After the match, KL Rahul explained his conversation with Kohli. He said, “When I came in and played around 10-12 balls, I told him that you are the batter who should stay till the end. I would try to hit or take one chance each over because, as you said, we only needed 6 runs per over. But on that pitch, 6 runs per over looked like 8 to 8.5 runs. So, you had to take one chance every over – one boundary or one six.”
He added, “So I told him I would do that and you just rotate the strike because you are a set batter and it might be tougher. If you get out, another set batter comes in and it becomes much harder. But he felt he could handle it, though he did not time his shot well.”
Rahul kept his cool and finished not out with 42 runs from 34 balls, sealing the victory with a six on the first ball of the 49th over. This win took India to their fifth Champions Trophy final. Hardik Pandya also chipped in with 28 quick runs from 24 balls before he got out.
Even with that one mistimed shot, Kohli’s performance was excellent. He formed a crucial 91-run partnership for the third wicket with Shreyas Iyer, who scored 45 runs, after early dismissals of Rohit Sharma (28) and Shubman Gill (9).
Although Australia were missing some key players, India had not beaten them in ICC tournament knockouts since the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal.
Kohli handled the leg-spinner Adam Zampa very well, despite Zampa having troubled him before. He used pull shots and drives between the sweeper cover and mid-wicket for consistent scoring.
After losing both Iyer and Axar Patel (27) quickly, Kohli reached his fifty in 53 balls. Glenn Maxwell even dropped a catch when Kohli was on 51 off Cooper Connolly’s bowling.
Kohli’s innings ended when India needed 40 runs to win, as he hit the ball towards Ben Dwarshuis at long-on off Zampa’s bowling.