In the IPL 2023 match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday night, RCB’s stand-in captain Virat Kohli looked in great shape. After Kohli got his 49th fifty in the IPL, KKR’s all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer had to work hard on the field to send Kohli back to the dugout.
Even though Mahipal Lomror was out for 34 after 18 balls and RCB needed 201 to win at home, Kohli was doing great on 54 with six fours and 12 runs off of Varun Chakravarthy’s over. Nitish Rana, the captain of KKR, called on Andre Russell to bowl the 13th over of the game. Kohli pulled Russell’s first ball towards deep midwicket, where Venkatesh Iyer made a spectacular flying catch.
Anushka Sharma, a Bollywood star married to Kohli, was in the stands at Chinnaswamy Stadium to watch the game. She was shocked by Iyer’s impressive diving effort, as was the rest of the crowd in Bengaluru. A video of Anushka Sharma’s response spread quickly on social media after it was posted.
Kohli had to return to the dugout after scoring 54 runs on 37 balls. With his dismissal, RCB no longer had any chance of beating KKR. RCB’s score after 20 overs was 179 for 8, 21 runs short of their target.
Russell got 2/29 because he got Kohli out, but Chakravarthy was named “Player of the Match” because he got 3/27 with the ball. “That win was crucial to us.” We’ve been under a lot of pressure. We know we can put pressure on them once we get a good score, anything over 200. I try my best once I get the ball. Russell said at the presentation after the game, “I try to help in any way I can.”
The West Indies all-rounder has had a hard time with the bat this season, scoring only 18 in the IPL 2023. But Russell didn’t care too much about that. “I still trust myself with the bat.” Siraj gave me a perfect Yorker tonight. We have to take the rules of the game each day as it comes. I care a lot about getting better. Russell said, “The older I get, the more I know about how my body works.”
