Virat Kohli reveals message from Rohit Sharma and Dravid during incredible stand with Suryakumar

Virat Kohli revealed the message sent across to him by skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid during his encouraging half-century and partnership with Suryakumar Yadav in the third and final T20I of the series against Australia on Sunday (September 25).

The former India captain said the plan in the middle was him to "continue batting" at his usual pace after a quickfire start to the innings and take the game deep, especially as Suryakumar had his beast mode on against the Australian bowlers. 

Despite a slow end to his knock, Kohli played one of his better innings in T20Is in recent times, hitting 63 off 48 balls to take India close to Australia's massive 186/7. At the other end, Suryakumar blasted a match-winning 69 off 36 balls before his dismissal.

During their magnificent stand of 104 runs for the third wicket, Virat Kohli revealed, he turned towards the Indian dug-out, from where the Rohit-Dravid duo encouraged him to stick to his longstanding mantra of taking the game deep before exploding. 

Virat Kohli revealed message from Rohit-Dravid duo 

Lauding Suryakumar for his brilliance with the bat in a post-match interview on Star Sports, Virat Kohli revealed the team management had their eyes on him and wanted him to take the game deeper into the chase with Australia piling on the pressure. 

"Surya was batting really well, I turned around to the dug-out, Rahul bhai and Ro both asked me to continue batting (and bat for a long time)," Kohli said, unveiling the game plan for him in the middle heading into the back half of the run-chase where India aimed for 10 an over after the early departure of KL Rahul and Rohit at the top. 

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As always, Kohli was quick to laud a teammate and had effusive praise to share to the commentators for Suryakumar, who fell only nine runs short of holding the record for most runs in T20Is for India in a calendar year by a male. In incredible form with the bat, the right-hander played another blistering knock that reinforced his terrific rise in the Indian middle-order. 

"He has the game to bat under any condition (on SKY), he batted beautifully in the Asia Cup," Virat Kohli said. "He's striking the ball well, this is the best I have seen him for the past 6 months or so. He's got the gift of timing and I was in awe watching him play his shots."