All posts tagged: virat kohli royal challengers bengaluru

‘You could see he wasn’t fully satisfied’: Harbhajan Singh explains how Virat Kohli provided stability to RCB batting vs MI | Cricket News

‘You could see he wasn’t fully satisfied’: Harbhajan Singh explains how Virat Kohli provided stability to RCB batting vs MI | Cricket News

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2 min readApr 13, 2026 06:32 PM IST Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh said that while Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Virat Kohli might have struck a half century in a slightly slower pace as compared to opening partner Phil salt and captain Rajat Patidar, the innings was crucial for RCB to get to 240 vs Mumbai Indians at Wankhede. “Virat Kohli’s half-century came at a slightly slower pace. You could see he wasn’t fully satisfied, especially with the way Phil Salt was scoring at the other end. But his role was crucial. He ensured there were no early wickets and provided stability at the top,” Harbhajan said on JioHotstar. “While players like Rajat Patidar and Salt played more aggressively, Kohli anchored the innings and allowed them to play their natural game. Against someone like Jasprit Bumrah, he was very cautious and played him intelligently, but he made sure to capitalise on the other bowlers whenever there was an opportunity,” he added. Kohli has been a vital cog in RCB’s batting this season, accumulating 179 runs …

Legendary Australian pacer praises Virat Kohli’s white-ball form amid IPL 2026

Legendary Australian pacer praises Virat Kohli’s white-ball form amid IPL 2026

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3 min readApr 3, 2026 05:04 PM IST Legendary Australian pacer Glenn McGrath has heaped praise on Virat Kohli, praising him for his recent white-ball form and how he has remained consistent in coloured clothing, when his career seemed like sliding away. The 37-year-old began his IPL 2026 campaign by scoring an unbeaten 69 not out to help Royal Challengers Bengaluru chase down Sunrisers Hyderabad’s target of 201 runs in the season opener. “Virat Kohli, you think he is starting to get a little bit long in the tooth, but his white-ball form of late has been absolutely incredible. 69 again not out, got Royal Challengers home, chasing 201,” McGrath said on “The Fast Bowling Cartel” podcast. The 56-year-old also noted how teams have been opting to chase after winning the toss in the IPL so far, and added how the par scores have risen exponentially since the time he played in the league. “It has been a funny start to the IPL. The one thing I have noticed is that every team that has …

Virat Kohli and RCB’s love story: Now retired from two international formats, winning IPL title is his last big battle | Ipl News

Virat Kohli and RCB’s love story: Now retired from two international formats, winning IPL title is his last big battle | Ipl News

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Like a happy old couple, Virat Kohli and Royal Challengers Bengaluru have celebrated the good days and survived the bad ones through 18 summers of the Indian Premier League, the essence of their longevity being stability and dependability, rather than blind, flawless love. Now that he has retired from Test cricket and T20Is, his international duties restricted to ODIs, infrequently calendared, Kohli is all RCB’s. And winning the IPL could be the last big battle Kohli would wage in a glorious career. The love for him overflows and overwhelms. Hundreds turned up to watch him bat in the nets when he returned to the Chinnaswamy on Thursday, before the match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday. Thousands, it is widely rumoured, might turn up in white Kohli shirts, an ode to his Test career. Saturday Night Fever would play out at the Chinnaswamy without a break. Traffic snarls would be endless. All to cheer Kohli to fulfil his elusive dream of the IPL crown. All that remains unfulfilled in Kohli’s staggering career is league silverware. …

‘Virat’s business as usual’: Mo Bobat says Kohli focussed on what he can achieve with RCB in IPL | Ipl News

‘Virat’s business as usual’: Mo Bobat says Kohli focussed on what he can achieve with RCB in IPL | Ipl News

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With Virat Kohli set to play his first competitive match on Saturday after announcing his Test retirement, Royal Challengers Bengaluru team director Mo Bobat said that the star batter still retains the competitive edge and is looking forward to what he can achieve with RCB in the IPL. Kohli’s Bengaluru will host defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the Chinnaswamy with RCB needing a win to qualify for the play-offs. “The first thing to say is Virat’s business as usual, as he always is. There’s enough of the public and the nation’s attention on him, and he doesn’t want any more of that. He’s ambitious about what we can achieve this year with RCB and that’s what he does,” said Bobat during a pre-match press conference. “He should be incredibly proud of what he’s done as a Test player for India. RCB as a franchise, we are all incredibly proud of what every one of our players does for India, but in particular him. To play 120 plus Test matches and to score nearly 10,000 …

‘Hopefully we break the jinx today’: Virat Kohli on ending RCB’s winless run vs MI at Wankhede since 2015 | Ipl News

‘Hopefully we break the jinx today’: Virat Kohli on ending RCB’s winless run vs MI at Wankhede since 2015 | Ipl News

Published by Webster

With Royal Challengers Bengaluru winless against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede since 2015, star batter Virat Kohli, who smashed a 42-ball 67 on Monday said that he’s hoping that they break the jinx, just like they had ended their Chepauk drought against Chennai Super Kings last week. ‘Hopefully we break the jinx today,” Kohli said at the mid-innings chat after RCB posted 221/5 against the Mumbai Indians. Talking about RCB’s counterattack after Phil Salt was sent back early and his knock, Kohli reveals how he and the team went about it. Story continues below this ad “That was pretty good. After losing a wicket on the second ball, we countered pretty nicely. Dev played a brilliant impact knock for us, really changed the momentum towards us. I got a few going as well. That partnership was really important for us to set that total on the board. My strength is to get my touch and feel of the ball early on, then I can play the shots I that I want to. I tried to …

‘Virat Kohli did not want to..’ Kohli’s new team-mate at RCB spills beans on captaincy saga | Ipl News

‘Virat Kohli did not want to..’ Kohli’s new team-mate at RCB spills beans on captaincy saga | Ipl News

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While Virat Kohli captained Royal Challengers Bengaluru from 2013 to 2021, the former Indian captain left the IPL team’s captaincy in 2021 citing workload management. With Royal Challengers Bengaluru letting go of long time regular Faf du Plessis in the 2024 mega auction, there were speculations that the team management could hand the captaincy back to Kohli. With the IPL side announcing Rajat Patidar as captain, RCB new pick Jitesh Sharma has shared how he felt that Kohli did not want captaincy again and he got to know about Patidar’s captaincy announcement like others. “No, I found out about Rajat Patidar’s captaincy when everyone else did. But when you play a lot of cricket, you can sense these things. Like Virat Bhai did not want to captain this side. I don’t know why he did not want to captain. I am not part of the management side of things. When I retire from cricket and come into management, I will tell you such things. But for now, Virat bhai had not been captaining since the …

‘Virat doesn’t need a captaincy title to lead,’: RCB team director Mo Bobat | Cricket News

‘Virat doesn’t need a captaincy title to lead,’: RCB team director Mo Bobat | Cricket News

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After Royal Challengers Bengaluru announced Rajat Patidar as their new captain on Thursday, team director Mo Bobat said Virat Kohli has a natural penchant for leadership which will benefit the new skipper, adding that the former skipper does not need a ‘captaincy title’. “Virat was an option (for captaincy). I know that the fans would have probably leaned towards Virat in the first instance. But my point on Virat would be that Virat doesn’t need a captaincy title to lead. Leadership, as we’ve all seen, is one of his strongest instincts. I think it just comes naturally to him. He leads regardless. But we’ve seen a lot of love for Rajat too,” Bobat said in a media interaction. “He (Virat) leads, as an example. The volume of runs and the strike rate that he scored last year was so important for us. Everyone in the field knows that they’ve got to be up to their standards because of him. Everyone’s seen how much he likes a fight and a scrap,” he said. Story continues below …