Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Andy Flower has given a crucial update on veteran batter Virat Kohli’s injury after the match against Gujarat Titans on Wednesday. Notably, Kohli had injured himself while fielding during the 2nd innings of the match and looked in visible pain.
RCB Coach on Virat Kohli’s injury:
Speaking after the match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans, home team’s coach Andy Flower confirmed that “Virat (Kohli) looks fine”, adding that “he’s okay, there’s no worry”.
Kohli injured his right hand in the 12th over of the Gujarat Titans’ innings when Sai Sudarshan hit a sweep shot that went towards the veteran batsman. While Kohli tried to stop the delivery, it slipped away, but not before hitting his right hand. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the 36-year-old looked in pain and was seen clutching his hand before the medical staff rushed in to help. While Kohli chose to continue playing despite the injury, he was clearly in pain.
Earlier in the match, Kohli was dismissed for 6 while opening the batting as Gujarat Titans’ Arshad Khan made an early breakthrough for the visitors.
GT crush RCB at Chinnnaswamy stadium:
Gujarat Titans won the toss and elected to bowl first at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. GT’s pacers wreaked havoc on the home side, taking four wickets for a total of just 42 runs. Jitesh Sharma and Liam Livingstone then stitched together a 50-run partnership to avoid a low total for their franchise before Sharma departed for 33, soon followed by Krunal Pandya (5).
Livingstone, however, remained steadfast for RCB, hitting his first half-century of the season as the franchise posted a total of 169 runs in their 20 overs.
In reply, GT lost the early wicket of captain Shubman Gill but there was no looking back from there on as Jos Buttler and Sai Sudarshan absorbed the pressure and took the team over the 100 run mark. Sudarshan was ultimately dismissed just one run short of a half century but Buttler (73 off 39 balls) stuck to the end to see his team through the finish line.
“I think the toss was reasonably important. There was quite a lot of dew out there. I think the dry ball did grip off the seam, and I think that was fairly important in the context of the game. It wasn’t a typical Chinnaswamy wicket, where you expect the ball to come quicker than that. GT played better than us and were sharper than us,” Flower said after the match.
