The Indian batting great went down and left the field after hurting his knee while finishing a catching act to dismiss Gujarat Titans' Vijay Shankar.
Indian fans wore a nervy and anxious outlook about them as Virat Kohli went for a catch to help dismiss Vijay Shankar and ended up hurting his knee in the IPL 2023 league stage encounter played on Sunday (May 21) night.
The esteemed Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) opener, who lit-up the occasion with a superlative ton against defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT), was left limping as he completed the grab in the deep mid-wicket region and didn’t return to the field after that piece of action in the 15th over.
Even as RCB’s parade was derailed by the in-form Titans in the run-chase, Virat Kohli has a marquee World Test Championship (WTC) final to be played in the prestigious white jersey against Australia in two weeks’ time. His knee injury, thus, became a topic of major headache for the fans, who feared the worst seeing him go down and not enter the field back.
Batting coach Sanjay Bangar provided a timely update on Kohli’s injury and its extent in a press conference held in Bangalore after the six-wicket loss versus the Titans. Bangar explained where Kohli stands with his participation in the WTC 2021-23 final, scheduled for June 7-12 at The Oval in UK.
Indian fans would be relieved to know that Virat Kohli’s knee injury is not “serious” at this stage. Bangar explained that the decision for the great Indian batter to skip the remaining five overs of GT’s run-chase was a precautionary one, taken in best interest of the player’s immediate physical health.
“Yeah, he had a bit of a niggle in his knee. But I don’t think there is anything serious,” Bangar told the press.
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The coach insisted it was the wearing that would’ve come about after scoring two consecutive hundreds and taking the fielding load in peak Indian summer that may have plagued the mighty beast.
“Having scored two back-to-back hundreds within a gap of 4 days. He is somebody who not only wants to contribute with the bat but even when he is fielding.”
“He did a lot of running around. 40 overs a couple of days ago and today, for 35 overs he was on the field. He was giving his best. So it is going to bother at some point but I don’t think it’s anything serious,” Bangar said.
Kohli finished the IPL 2023 with a whopping 639 runs in 14 innings at a strike-rate of 139.82. The 34-year-old made six fifty-plus scores to go with his two spectacular hundreds at the back end of the tournament.
