Another case of an invader running onto the field occurred during the IPL 2022 Qualifier 2 between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals on Friday, with the fan meeting Virat Kohli as he was preparing to face Trent Boult.
The IPL 2022 is now a match away from its decisive end, with the Rajasthan Royals set to face the Gujarat Titans in the final in Ahmedabad on Sunday, May 29.
RR made it to the final on the back of a brilliant all-round performance against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the same venue on Friday. Prasidh Krishna and Obed McCoy stood out with the ball, returning with three wickets each to restrict RCB to 157/8 after Sanju Samson opted to field.
Jos Buttler then took the RCB bowling apart, smashing a 60-ball unbeaten 106 – to become only the second batter to register four hundreds in an IPL season, after Virat Kohli (2016).
The game was played in front of a jam-packed crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, with support for both the teams. Unsurprisingly, Kohli was a neutral favourite, with one fan even running onto the pitch to meet him as he geared up to face Trent Boult in the very first over.
As Kohli was about to take stance to face the second ball of the innings, the fan came running onto the pitch. He succeeded in meeting him at a hand-shaking distance, and started celebrating passionately, while gesturing to the crowd, before being chased off the field by the security team.
Watch the video here:
અમદાવાદ : વિરાટ કોહલીને મળવા ચાહક સુરક્ષા તોડી ગ્રાઉન્ડમાં ઘસી આવ્યો, જુઓ વિડિયો#CGNews #Ahmedabad #Viratkohli #Fan #Ground #NarendraModiStadium #TATAIPL #CGNews #Video pic.twitter.com/Syk4FXdhoM
— ConnectGujarat (@ConnectGujarat) May 27, 2022
Kohli took a single and then struck Boult for a six over deep square leg, before falling to Prasidh Krishna in the next over for 7. He would finish the season with 341 runs at 22.73, his lowest series aggregate since the 2010 edition.
It wasn’t the first occasion that an intruder tried to approach Kohli this IPL. Earlier in the Eliminator clash between RCB and the Lucknow Super Giants, a fan ran towards the former India and RCB captain stationed at the boundary during the closing moments of the game, before being carried off by a security guard in a rather comical manner.