'It is going to bother...': RCB coach's ominous update on Virat Kohli's injury ahead of India's WTC final

Virat Kohli seemed to have hurt his knee while taking a catch during RCB's final league match against GT.

What could have been a memorable night for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) fans turned out to be a forgettable one on Monday as their side lost to Gujarat Titans (GT) despite their talisman Virat Kohli scoring a century for the second time in a row. Moreover, the defeat made the game RCB's last of the season as the Mumbai Indians pipped them to the IPL 2023 last playoff spot.

Kohli sustained the knock while taking Vijay Shankar's catch. (PTI)

However, there was also a larger lingering fear that repercussions of the match could be felt later on as well when India play the World Test Championship against Australia next month. Kohli had limped off the field after seemingly damaging his knee while fielding during the Gujarat Titans innings. He sat out for the rest of the match and could be seen sitting with an ashen expression as Shubman Gill scored his own second consecutive century and led GT to victory. Kohli could then be seen throwing his water bottle in anger after Gill hit the winning runs before making his way back to the field to congratulate the GT players. He also later joined the rest of the RCB squad in taking a walk around the ground and thanking the fans at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

RCB head coach Sanjay Bangar later assuaged any fears that Indian fans may have had about Kohli's fitness for the WTC final. “Yeah, he had a bit of a niggle in his knee. But I don't think there is anything serious. Having scored two back-to-back hundreds within a gap of 4 days,” Bangar said in the post-match press conference.

“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.”

Kohli sustained the knock while taking a catch of Vijay Shankar, who had scored 53 off 35 balls in the 198-run chase. That brought an end to a 123-run stand between Shankar and Gill. Gill ended up finishing off the game with an unbeaten 104 off 52 balls. He scored the winning runs with a six, thus scoring his second consecutive century of the season in the process. Kohli had earlier scored 101 off 61 balls RCB scored 197/5. Apart from this being Kohli's second consecutive century this season, it was also his seventh in the IPL. It made Kohli the man with the most centuries in the history of the tournament, going past Chris Gayle's previous record of six.