The high-pressure clash between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Arun Jaitley Stadium took a fiery turn when RCB star Virat Kohli and DC skipper KL Rahul were involved in a verbal exchange during RCB’s chase.
Chasing a modest target of 163 after Delhi posted 162/8 batting first, RCB struggled to find momentum early in their innings. Virat Kohli, tasked with anchoring the chase, looked composed but tempers briefly flared when an interaction between him and wicketkeeper KL Rahul turned heated.
The incident occurred during the middle overs of the RCB innings. It appeared Kohli initiated the exchange by saying something to Rahul, who responded with a helpless look. While the exact cause of the disagreement remains unclear, the tension between two of Indian cricket’s modern greats was palpable for a few moments before play resumed.
Both players, known for their competitive spirits, quickly moved on without further escalation. Kohli continued to marshal the RCB innings, focusing on steadying the chase after a rocky start.
The brief altercation added an extra layer of drama to an already intense fixture, with the playoff race heating up as IPL 2025 enters its critical stages.
Kohli and Rahul are known to be great mates off the field and the incident was likely triggered by something trivial. While the exact details of what transpired in the Kohli KL fight isn’t known, an incident that seemed to have irked Kohli happened in the 7th over of the run chase.
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Just before Kohli took strike for over 6.5, Rahul was seen having a brief discussion with bowler Vipraj Nigam. Two balls prior to that DC were warned by the umpires after a couple of fielders tried to change positions for a free hit delivery that Krunal Pandya faced. Combined with the time consumed before Kohli faced the penultimate ball of the over, quite a bit of time had been stalled and the RCB star seemed displeased with it.
Soon after he nudged the ball for a single, Kohli was seen having a word with the umpires, possibly about DC taking too much time between deliveries. But the actual altercation with Rahul came after over 7.4 when DC reviewed an LBW call against Krunal Pandya off Kuldeep Yadav.
Notably, Kohli’s wild celebration aimed at Shreyas Iyer, albeit in jest, after the win against Punjab Kings last match had not quite gone down well with the PBKS skipper.
Watch the Kohli celebration that irked Shreyas Iyer here
In the game, RCB were struggling in the run chase after Axar Patel took two wickets in the third over and skipper Rajat Patidar fell to an unfortunate run out after a mix up with Virat Kohli.
Axar had used up three of his overs early in the game to keep Kohli, who doesn’t quite take of slow left-arm spinners, quiet early in the chase. RCB had won three run-chases in IPL 2025 so far and Kohli had been pivotal in each of them. So it was vital that DC kept him silent early on and Axar’s brilliant move did exactly that.
With Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam also available to operate through the middle overs to keep things tight on a tacky wicket, Axar’s move left RCB crippled and Kohli had to bail the team out with a little support from the other end from Krunal Pandya.
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