The ‘comeback man’ Virat Kohli gave a fine example of his credentials in the shortest format of the game, scoring a 77-run knock against Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match on Monday. Kohli wasn’t just prolific with the bat but also entertained everyone with his on-field antics. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) man was involved in a cheeky banter with Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shikhar Dhawan. Kohli’s comments were caught on the stump mic while he was batting for the Bengaluru franchise.
“Senti kyun ho raha hai, kya ho gaya (why are you getting sentimental, what happened?”, Virat could be heard saying through the stump mic. The comments seemed to have been directed towards Dhawan who was fielding in the covers region.
It all happened during an over from PBKS spinner Harpreet Brar. It isn’t yet known what the context of Virat’s comment was. Here’s the video:
After the match, Shikhar Dhawan admitted that it was Virat Kohli’s dropped catch that cost his team the match.
“It was a good game, we brought the game back, and again we lost it. We scored 10-15 runs less, in the first six overs I played a bit slow. Those 10-15 runs cost us and the dropped catch as well. I am happy with my runs but I thought I could have played a bit more fast in the first six overs, that’s the only thing I felt. We lost wickets as well, we lost two wickets continuously and that put pressure on us.”
In the second innings, on the second ball of the first over, England star Jonny Bairstow dropped Kohli’s catch while the former RCB skipper hadn’t opened his account. The RCB superstar then went on to score 77 runs in just 49 deliveries, with the help of eleven fours and two maximums.
“Virat scored 70-odd runs and we dropped a catch of the class player, we paid the price. If we had taken that catch, the momentum would have come from the second ball. But we lost the momentum over there and then we paid the price for that,” he added.
