Glenn Maxwell recalls being awed by Virat Kohli's batting 'mastery' in old T20 WC match

While Glenn Maxwell and Virat Kohli are currently teammates in IPL 2021, the Australian allrounder revealed what it felt like to be on the receiving end of an outstanding inning from India's captain.

At the 2016 T20 World Cup in Mohali, Australia faced India in the last match of Group 2 of the Super 10 stage. Both teams were desperate to win the encounter as they were left in a sudden-death situation, with both having lost their opening game against New Zealand.

Virat Kohli's outstanding batting helps India defeat Australia

Five years have passed, and it seems Glenn Maxwell has not forgotten Virat Kohli's excellent knock in the 2016 T20 World Cup that took the game away from Australia. Having elected to bat first, Australia managed to score 160 runs at the end of 20 overs, a score that Maxwell believed was 'decent' at the time.

In response, India got off to a relatively poor start as they were 49/3 at the end of the eighth over, with Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina all dismissed. Soon after, Yuvraj Singh was retired hurt as he limped off after having scored 21 runs off 18 deliveries.

With India's required run-rate reaching as high as 13 at one point, Kohli with some assistance from Dhoni at the other end produced a masterclass batting performance. After a slow start of just 20 runs from 20 deliveries, Kohli finished his innings with a score of 82 runs from 51 balls to help India chase down the target of 161 with five balls to spare. 

Glenn Maxwell reflects on Virat Kohli's batting

While reflecting on Virat Kohli's innings, Glenn Maxwell told ICC, "I just remember Virat Kohli coming out and not missing the middle of the bat the whole innings. He played some of the most extraordinary shots. Just the way he manipulated our field and manipulated his hands around the ball and was able to just basically pierce gaps where there weren’t gaps. It was just basically mastery of batting. It was hard not to watch in awe. Just incredible innings. It was one of those times in T20 cricket where one player has a day out and is too good for you."