Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Virat Kohli made humorous comments about his bowling ahead of the match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Virat Kohli jokingly claimed that he would never bowl in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Royal Challengers Bangalore will host Chennai Super Kings in the final match of the league stage at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday, May 18. It is a match that the team led by Faf du Plessis must win to secure a playoff spot in the current tournament. .
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have already qualified for the playoffs. The Faf du Plessis-led team must secure a win and surpass the net run rate of the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led team to advance to the playoffs.
I will never bowl – Virat Kohli
Before the Southern Derby clash, Virat Kohli joked about his bowling skills and claimed that he would never bowl in the IPL. Kohli recounted instances when fans shouted at him to bowl, but he politely refused.
“In IPL, I will never bowl. The fans were chanting ‘Kohli ko bowling do’ several times, I put my hands together and said sorry. In the match where MI scored 200 in 15 overs, they asked me to bowl. I trust that I have in batting, that will end too. Kohli said.
The 35-year-old cricketer has bowled 252 deliveries in 250 games in the T20 tournament. The right-arm medium pacer has taken four wickets at an economy rate of 8.80. The last time he bowled was during the match against the Gujarat Lions in the 2016 edition.
Virat Kohli leads the run-scorer in IPL 2024. The star batsman has scored 661 runs in 13 matches with an impressive strike rate of 155.16. He has completed five half-centuries and one century. His highest score of 113 off 72 balls was against the Rajasthan Royals (RR).
RCB never lost on May 18 – Aakash Chopra
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra highlighted the historical significance of May 18 for RCB. The cricketer-turned-commentator emphasized that RCB never lost on May 18.
“It started only from here and we reached there again. Chennai was on one side and RCB was in front of them. Chennai won that game, that was on March 23, but now we have reached May 18. RCB never lost on 18 of May”, Chopra said.
The Bengaluru team is currently at 7th place in the points table. RCB has 12 points from 13 games with a net run rate of +0.387. They need to win by 18 runs or chase the target within about 11 balls to secure a top-four position in the table.
The Chennai team recorded a six-wicket win the last time they played against the Royal Challengers in IPL 2024. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s team chased down a target of 174 runs with eight balls to spare at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on 22 March.
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