The 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) needed some spice and Virat Kohli and Travis Head provided plenty of it during the Sunrisers Hyderabad-Royal Challengers Bengaluru game on Friday night.
The controversy erupted after Kohli refused to shake hands with the Aussie after SRH crushed RCB by 55 runs. Kohli did shake hands with SRH and Australia captain Pat Cummins but he totally ignored Head who offered a handshake but when he saw Kohli had walked right past him without even looking at him, he had no option but to move on.
It's difficult to say what triggered the hostility on Kohli's part but it appears something happened during his short stay at the crease in RCB's chase. It appears, as part of his sledging tactics, Kohli asked Head to come and bowl to him "a few deliveries." Head quite a few times this season has come on as an impact player and quite a few times he has also been substituted, but that wasn't the case on Friday (that he wasn't substituted), and through some "impact sub" gestures Kohli tried to take a dig at Head on that front.
Sadly for Kohli, after getting involved in sledging so much, he couldn't continue for long and perished for a 11-ball 15. Now it was time for Head to get his own back on him. “Mate, you got out before I even came on to bowl,” Head retorted after Kohli was dismissed.
{{/usCountry}}Sadly for Kohli, after getting involved in sledging so much, he couldn't continue for long and perished for a 11-ball 15. Now it was time for Head to get his own back on him. “Mate, you got out before I even came on to bowl,” Head retorted after Kohli was dismissed.
{{/usCountry}}Kohli couldn't back up though!
We need more information before we can find the guilty party but on whatever evidence we have as of now, Kohli appears to be a fault. Everyone knows he plays his cricket with a lot of passion and he is heavily involved even in little moments. He screams, he gestures and sometimes hurls insults out of sheer competitiveness. He can also trigger the players on the opposition team.
Having said that, Head is no saint. During the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2024-25, he too sledged no end. In fact, one of his gestures became quite controversial in a terrible series for India.
Former India allrounder Irfan Pathan was commentating when things got heated up between Kohli and Head. Later, he said: “See what happened during the game can happen, in the heat of the moment. That's okay but what happened after that wasn't right.”
The match was very important for SRH. They needed a huge win to break into the top-2 and they did win in a grand way, however, it still was not big enough to overtake RCB or Gujarat Titans' net run rate. Despite the humiliating defeat, RCB finished on top on the basis of their superior net run rate ahead of GT and SRH. These three teams finished on 18 points, it may be noted.
Anyway, all that has been pushed to the background with the Kohli-Head event taking centre stage at present.