A day after Virat Kohli was seen mentoring India vice-captain KL Rahul during a practice session, the opener went on to score a half-century against Bangladesh. India face Shakib Al Hasan and co at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday. 

Rahul was struggling. The star India batter had scored 22 runs in the first three games of the ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia. Videos of former skipper Kohli talking to the 30-year-old during a training session went viral on social media. 

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Virat Kohli, as per news agency PTI,  was seen explaining to Rahul that his trigger movement was taking his front foot towards the off stump and his body weight is transferred forward. This is why he was getting played on, caught behind or lbw.

KL Rahul started off his innings against Bangladesh with a six off Shoriful Islam. He then slammed Hasan Mahmud for a boundary and a maximum. He reached his fifty in 31 balls with the help of three boundaries and four maximums. 

The India opener was dismissed by Shakib Al Hasan. Mustafizur Rahman took the catch. 

While Rahul has scored five half-centuries in his last 10 T20I innings, he has often deemed underwhelming by fans and pundits. The half-centuries came against Afghanistan, Australia, South Africa and Bangladesh. 

However, he has also faltered in clutch moments, such as against South Africa in the T20 World Cup Super 12 match in Perth on October 30, when he was dismissed for only nine runs.

Also Read: Virat Kohli becomes highest scorer in T20 World Cup with knock vs Bangladesh

Playing XIs

India – KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (C), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel (In for Deepak Hooda), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh.

Bangladesh – Najmul Hossain Shanto, Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan (C), Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali, Nurul Hasan (WK), Mosaddek Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam (In for Soumya Sarkar), Taskin Ahmed.