KL Rahul gives Virat Kohli a earful as he throws his wicket away for 84 vs Australia

At the end of the 40th over in India's chase, KL Rahul had a conversation with Virat Kohli during the drinks break. It seemed like Rahul was urging Kohli to stay till the end and finish the job. With 65 runs needed off 60 balls, Rahul took the initiative to accelerate the scoring. In a crucial moment of the Champions Trophy semi-final in Dubai, Rahul smashed a boundary and a six off his next five deliveries to relieve the pressure on Kohli. He then cleverly rotated the strike to ensure Kohli got back on strike. With 40 runs required off 45 balls, Kohli was on the brink of his 52nd ODI century. The match ended in India's favor, securing their spot in the finals. Kohli may have missed out on a century, but he would agree that the victory was more important.

After batting in cruise control for most of the chase, Kohli, as uncharacteristically as one can imagine, attempted a slog sweep against Adam Zampa, when it was most unnecessary and hit it straight to the long on fielder. So distraught was KL Rahul at the non-striker's end that he did not shy away from giving Kohli a piece of his mind. Yes, you read that right.

"Main maar raha that naa (I was going after the bowling)," he told Kohli as he walked past him. More than missing a deserving a century, Kohli's wicket gave Australia a new lease of life and that is perhaps why Rahul could not hold back. It was more in disappointed than in anger. For Kohli's shot came right after Rahul had a six in the same over and India needed less than a run a ball.

Thankfully for India, Rahul held his nerve and did nothing uncharacteristic. He remained unbeaten on 42 off 34 balls and finished the match with a six in the first ball of the 49th over to help India enter their fifth Champions Trophy final. In between, he had Hardik Pandya for company, who played a cameo of 28 off 24 balls before holing out to long on.

Kohli's masterclass in beating Australia

The one false shot, however, takes nothing away from the masterclass that Kohli produced. He had wonderful support from Shreyas Iyer (45) with whom he realised 91 runs for the third wicket, and steadied the ship after the early departures of skipper Rohit Sharma (28) and Shubman Gill (9).

Australia were weakened by the absence of some of their premier stars, but India had not beaten them in the knockouts of an ICC tournament since the quarterfinal of the 2011 World Cup.

However, Kohli was determined to correct that anomaly. The pitch used for the semifinal was fresh but much smoother than the ones on which the previous matches were played.

Kohli does not need a second invitation to exploit such conditions and a near-perfect control helped him keep pace with the asking rate.

Kohli's struggle point in an ODI innings is his inability to force the pace against spinners, but here the champion batter negated leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who had his number on a few occasions in the past, quite effectively.

The 36-year-old used the pull and drives, two of his most productive shots, to optimum effect. He placed him in the wide arc between sweeper cover and mid-wicket for easy, risk-free runs.

He lost the company of both Iyer, who played some delectable shots, and Axar Patel (27) in rather quick succession but Kohli went past his 50 in 53 balls.

Glenn Maxwell dropped him on 51 off left-arm spinner Cooper Connolly, a perceived early signal of an inevitable Kohli hundred.

But it did not arrive as an ugly hit off Zampa ended in the hands of Ben Dwarshuis near long-on when India were 40 runs away from victory.

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