In a fresh change yet not a never-before-seen sight, Virat Kohli is back captaining Royal Challengers Bangalore for their IPL 2023 match against Punjab Kings in Mohali on Thursday. Two years after stepping down as RCB's captain, a pleasant sight unfolded when Kohli turned up to lead RCB at the toss. There were concerns about Shikhar Dhawan perhaps not making it to the Playing XI given he was nursing a niggle, and while his absence was confirmed when Sam Curran flipped the coin, Kohli leading RCB in place of Faf du Plessis is what became the talking point even before the match started.
The move possibly stems from the fact that Du Plessis had injury concerns in his ribs during the last game and batted on even after getting the area taped up. The belief is that he hasn't regained full fitness, so while du Plessis starts off for RCB as they bat first, he will be later substituted with an Impact Player as revealed by Kohli. A similar move was recently made in the Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders match, where Suryakumar Yadav led MI and Rohit Sharma later came to bat in the second innings as their Impact Player.
Also Read: PBKS vs RCB IPL 2023 Live Score and Updates
"Faf potentially can't be fielding today, so he'll be playing as a impact player, switching with Vyshak. We got to do what we wanted, we would have batted first, the pitch could get slow, some scruff marks will help the bowlers going deep into the game. Taking one game at a time, focussing on our own game, make the most of crunch situations, we haven't done that so far in the tournament. No other changes for us," Kohli said at the toss.
{{/usCountry}}"Faf potentially can't be fielding today, so he'll be playing as a impact player, switching with Vyshak. We got to do what we wanted, we would have batted first, the pitch could get slow, some scruff marks will help the bowlers going deep into the game. Taking one game at a time, focussing on our own game, make the most of crunch situations, we haven't done that so far in the tournament. No other changes for us," Kohli said at the toss.
{{/usCountry}}The same cannot be implemented by Punjab Kings though. Even though Dhawan has not started in their Playing XI, the fact that he is not named in PBKS' Impact Player list - Prabhsimran Singh, Mohit Rathee, Shivam Singh, Rishi Dhawan and Sikandar Raza are the 5 players - means that he is definitely out of this content. Dhawan's absence comes as huge blow for the Kings since he has been in pretty decent nick with 233 runs and is currently placed fourth in the Orange Cap list. However, they have been bolstered by the return of two of their star overseas players in Liam Livingstone and Nathan Ellis.
"We will bowl first, did well in the last game and we'll take some confidence, conditions will not change a lot. Shikhar is getting closer, but he'll miss out today. He's a quality player, but the younger lot will have to shape up, Livingstone is back and we have Ellis back in place of KG [Rabada}," said Curran.