Virat Kohli, who is leading Team India in his final assignment as captain in the shorter format, displayed some great leadership qualities in the warm-up fixture against Australia at the ongoing T20 World Cup.
The incident involved rookie spinner Rahul Chahar, who drew inspiration from Kohli and delivered the team with a crucial breakthrough.
The incident took place in the 12th over of the Australia innings, who opted to bat first after winning the toss.
Chahar, who was coming to bowl his third over, was welcomed with an audacious sweep by in-form all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, with the ball sailing towards the backward point region for a boundary.
Soon after getting whacked by the Australian, Kohli was seen having a chat with the bowler, following which, Chahar delivered three consecutive dots and then cleaned the all-rounder's stump to break the dangerous partnership between Maxwell and Steve Smith.
Maxwell was dismissed on 37 off 28 balls, and during his stay in the middle he also stitched a crucial 61-run partnership with Smith.
ICC shared a video of the sequence of events on Instagram and wrote: “There's a lot to appreciate in this passage of play.”
{{/usCountry}}ICC shared a video of the sequence of events on Instagram and wrote: “There's a lot to appreciate in this passage of play.”
{{/usCountry}}Riding on Maxwell and Smith's brilliant knock and a cameo by Marcus Stoinis, Australia posted a challenging 152/5 in 20 overs.
However, in-form batter KL Rahul along with senior opening partner Rohit Sharma provided India with a perfect start. The pair laid the perfect platform as India went on to win the contest by eight wickets.
Last week Kohli had explained the reasons for picking Chahar ahead of his RCB teammate Yuzvendra Chahal in the T20 World Cup.
"It was a challenging call but we decided to back Rahul Chahar for a reason. He has bowled amazingly well over the last couple of years in the IPL. A guy who bowls with pace, he did really well in Sri Lanka and against England at home as well, he was someone who bowled those difficult overs," said Kohli during a Captain's Call organised by the ICC ahead of the upcoming Men's T20 World Cup.
"We believe going on in this tournament, the wickets are going to get slower and slower, so guys who bowl with pace will be able to trouble the batters as compared to those who give it air. Rahul definitely has those strengths naturally as a leg-spinner. He is someone who always attacks the wickets, that is the factor that tilted the thing in favour of him. Picking a World Cup is always tricky and you cannot always have everyone in that squad," he added.