Virat Kohli’s fandom was perfectly summed up in the third over of the first innings as the RCB opener smacked Mitchell Starc for a six.
Virat Kohli was in fine batting form in RCB’s defeat to KKR in their IPL 2024 fixture, on Friday. The RCB opener smacked an unbeaten knock of 83 runs off 59 balls as RCB posted 182/6 in 20 overs. But Faf du Plessis and Co. failed to defend the target as KKR reached 186/3 in 16.5 overs, winning by seven wickets.
Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Virat Kohli plays a shot.(AFP)
Kohli was immaculate with his shot selection, smacking four fours and four sixes during his knock. The match began with Kohli getting a four off Mitchell Starc in the first delivery, which put fans on the edge of their seats right from the start.
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Kohli’s fandom was perfectly summed up in the second delivery of the third over, when he smacked a slow off-cutter by Starc over deep square leg for a six! In reaction, the Bengaluru crowd went into a state of meltdown, creating noise amounting to 125 decibels as they screamed and cheered for the RCB star.
Despite being in good form, Kohli didn’t receive much support from Du Plessis (8), who departed early. It was followed by two stable partnerships with Cameron Green (33) and Glenn Maxwell, followed by Rajat Patidar (3), Anuj Rawat (3) losing their wickets cheaply. Meanwhile, Dinesh Karthik (20) played a late cameo as RCB posted 182/6.
KKR raced to 186/3 in 16.5 overs, courtesy of contributions from Phil Salt (30), Sunil Narine (47), Venkatesh Iyer (50), Shreyas Iyer (39*).
Kohli is also now leading the IPL 2024 Orange Cap race with 181 runs, and is followed by SRH’s Heinrich Klaasen (143) in second position. RR stars Riyan Parag (127) and Sanju Samson (97) are in third and fourth positions. Meanwhile, SRH’s Abhishek Sharma (95) is fifth.
Speaking after the match, losing skipper Du Plessis said, “Strange one, first innings we thought that the wicket was very two-paced, you could see that when the guys bowled the cutters, back of a length, the guys really struggled. We thought it was a decent score knowing that it gets a little bit easier in the evening, there was a little bit of dew that came in. Looking at the way we batted in the first innings, even if you have someone in there, Virat was struggling to hit the ball just because there was lack of pace and the two-paceness.”
