Cricket Live: On Wednesday, April 26 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, during Royal Challengers Bangalore’s match versus Kolkata Knight Riders, star batsman Virat Kohli was once again spotted serving as the team’s de facto skipper. Toss winner Kohli asked KKR to open the batting at the stadium known for high scoring.
The 34-year-old had another loud response from the RCB home crowd at the toss, and he was forced to wait a while before informing Ravi Shastri of his choice. The acting RCB captain responded, “Wait a minute,” when asked what he chose to do first after winning the toss and laughed with Shastri.
Since Faf du Plessis suffered a rib injury while playing for RCB against Chennai Super Kings in their fifth match of the IPL 2023, Kohli has served as the team’s captain for three straight games. Since that time, du Plessis has only played for his team while they are batting and has been replaced by the “Impact Player” when the RCB is fielding. Since impact replacements are not permitted by the regulations to captain the team, Kohli has been leading the squad in Du Plessis’ absence.
He has so far guided the team to two victories, one each over Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings. At the toss, Kohli provided an update on Du Plessis’s health, saying that he hoped the regular skipper would be ready for their May 1 match against the Lucknow Super Giants.
According to Kohli, it was unexpected for him to be given the opportunity to captain RCB for the first time since he stood down as the team’s full-time skipper in 2021, but so far it has been enjoyable.
So far, it’s been enjoyable: Virat Kohli (leading the team as captain)
“Although unexpected, the stand-in captaincy was nothing new to me. Because of the manner, which the team has been playing thus far, it has been enjoyable. Tonight, Faf will once again have a major impact. The team we faced in the previous game is still on the field. He will play the same role tonight as he did in the previous two games, hopefully taking the lead from that point forward,” added Kohli.
Back to the game: Jason Roy (56 off 29) and N Jagadeesan (27 off 29) contributed 83 runs for the first wicket in 56 balls, giving KKR a strong start. Nitish Rana (48 off 21), Rinku Singh (18* off 10) and David Wiese (12* off 3) led their team to 200/5 in the first innings after being dismissed. In their four-over spells, Wanindu Hasaranga (2/24) and Vijaykumar Vyshak (2/41) each claimed two wickets for the RCB.
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