Star cricketer Virat Kohli was seen playing with the umpire Richard Illingworth during the Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final match between India and Australia in Dubai. It was one of those light moments in a tense semi-final match between two tough opponents.
The moment occurred during the first innings of the match when India were fielding. After the end of an over, umpire Richard Illingworth was coming behind the stumps from the square leg to take his position.
However, Virat Kohli came up to the stumps and asked for the ball from the umpire. Kohli threw the ball back to Illingworth and the umpire returned the favor again. Both of them played with each other for a while as both shared a light moment between them.
Also read: ‘Has done it for so many years’ – Rohit Sharma bows down to Virat Kohli after CT 2025 SF heroics
Watch: Virat Kohli plays with umpire Richard Illingworth
Kohli playing with umpire 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/n4uLHkMgBS
— Suprvirat (@ishantraj51) March 4, 2025
The crowd at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium cheered as both Illingworth and Kohli shared a laugh with each other. Afterwards, both of them took their positions in the ground as the bowler got ready to bowl the next over.
Virat Kohli’s match-winning knock
Virat Kohli played a magnificent knock against Australia in the semi-final to take his team to the summit clash. It was an innings filled with composure and timing as Kohli showed his prowess as an ODI batter during the run-chase.
He arrived to bat when India were 30-1 after having lost the opener Shubman Gill. Soon, the Men in Blue also lost their captain Rohit Sharma, leaving them in further trouble. However, Kohli and Shreyas Iyer came together and started resurrecting the innings again.
Both of them rotated the strike well and kept the scoring rate ticking along without taking much risk. Kohli got set and got into his usual mode. He ran singles and doubles constantly and also ensured to put the bad balls away to the boundary.
Despite losing Iyer for 45, Kohli carried on with Axar Patel and took India closer to the target. After playing much of his innings without any undue risks, Virat Kohli finally decided to take a risk off the legspinner Adam Zampa and perished for a well-made 84 off 98 balls. He struck 5 fours and took an astonishing 56 singles during his knock.
India book a place in the final
It was a surreal performance from India as they booked their place in the Champions Trophy 2025 final. Australia batted first after winning the toss and put up a competitive total of 264 on the board.
Skipper Steve Smith top-scored for Australia with a fine 73 off 96 balls while Alex Carey struck 61 off 57 balls. Travis Head also provided his team a fiery start with a blistering 39 off just 33 balls at the top.
In reply, India chased down the score with 11 balls to spare. Kohli top-scored for India with 84 while Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Hardik Pandya chipped in with useful contributions.
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