T20 World Cup 2021: Virat Kohli's advice helps Rahul Chahar dismiss Glenn Maxwell in warm-up fixture

India started their 2021 T20 World Cup campaign with two victories on the trot, defeating both England and Australia in the warm-up fixtures ahead of the Super12, where the Virat Kohli-led unit will kickstart their journey against Pakistan on October 24, before playing New Zealand on October 31.

After India chased down 189 with an over to spare against England in the first warm-up, the team, led by Rohit Sharma, made short work of the 153-run target against Australia on October 20, clinching the game by eight wickets and more than two overs to spare.

A spirited bowling performance dented a batting-first Australia, with R Ashwin dismissing both David Warner and Mitchell Marsh on consecutive deliveries. Australia were soon reduced to 11/3 when Ravindra Jadeja trapped Aaron Finch lbw before a 61-run stand between Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith brought them on track.

After Ashwin and Jadeja’s early strike, Rahul Chahar, who had an expensive outing against England, opened his account with the prized scalp of Maxwell for 37. What grabbed the attention, however, were the series of events before Chahar cleaned up Maxwell, who had reverse swept the bowler on the opening delivery of the 12th over.

Immediately afterwards, Kohli was seen having a conversation with Chahar, who undid Maxwell with a googly only three balls later. Sharing a video of the sequence of events, ICC wrote on its Instagram page: “Maxwell’s lovely reverse-sweep. Kohli’s advice to Chahar. Chahar fires back with a wicket. There’s a lot to appreciate in this passage of play.”

India rested pacers Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah in the contest, while Rohit Sharma led the team, with Kohli not taking part with the bat. He did, however, took the field with the team while Australia set a target and also delivered a couple of overs for 12 runs.

During the chase, skipper Sharma retired after his 41-ball 60 while brisk knocks from KL Rahul (39 off 31) and Surkyakumar Yadav (unbeaten 38 off 27) before Hardik Pandya’s finishing touches (14 off 8) helped India ease past the target convincingly. The main draw of the tournament commences on October 23.