When Virat Kohli took over bowling duties for two overs during India’s T20 World Cup warm-up match against Australia in Dubai on Wednesday, it was unexpected and raised quite a few eyebrows. 

Virat Kohli had given over captaincy duties to Rohit Sharma for the day. He started off well after he was given the ball in the seventh over when Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith were at the crease for Australia. The Indian captain gave away merely four runs from his opening over. Kohli returned again in the 13th over, to go for eight runs this time, with Marcus Stoinis hitting him for a boundary on one of the balls. 

Watch Kohli bowling here:

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Smith went on to help Australia recover from early blow at the ICC Academy in Dubai by hitting a fifty. After winning the toss earlier in the day, Australia opted to bat first.

At the toss, Rohit Sharma, captain for the day, stated all-rounder Hardik Pandya will be ready to bowl again by the time the T20 World Cup begins. He further let out clues for the batting line-up and sixth bowler options during Wednesday’s game, hinting that the team would try out some more options. 

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“We want to make sure that we get the 6th bowling option, some options in the batting order as well, we’ll try all those things today. Hardik is coming along pretty well, but it’ll be a while before he will start to bowl. He hasn’t started bowling, but he should be ready by the start of the tournament,” Rohit said at the toss.

Kohli was frequently sent to the game as a part-time seamer by former Team India captain MS Dhoni in pursuit of possible breakthroughs during the early stages of his iconic career.

India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign in the Super 12 phase against Australia on October 24 in Dubai.