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Watch: Virat Kohli briefly returns as RCB captain during LSG match, sets field and motivates bowlers, Twitter goes crazy
IPL 2022: Virat Kohli, who stepped down as RCB captain after last year's IPL, briefly led the side during the LSG innings.
Virat Kohli may have fallen for a golden duck in the Lucknow Super Giants vs Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL 2022 match in Navi Mumbai on Monday, but he did manage to turn back the clock. Kohli, who stepped down as RCB captain after last year's IPL, briefly led the side during the LSG innings. With Faf du Plessis batting till the end and playing a blazing knock of 96, the RCB captain did not enter the field with the rest of his team as LSG began their innings. With du Plessis possibly taking a cold shower, Kohli, albeit briefly, took charge of proceedings as the stand-in captain. (Also Read: Match referee gives verdict on Marcus Stoinis' furious outburst at umpire in RCB vs LSC IPL 2022 match)
For the first time in three months, the world witnessed Kohli the captain, and even though it wasn't for too long - 1.1 overs to be precise - as du Plessis returned after the first over, Virat was seen setting the field and pumping up and motivating Mohammed Siraj and Glenn Maxwell, who bowled the first two overs. When the second ball of the first over, pinged LSG batter Quinton de Kock on the gloves and the opener seemed to be in pain, Kohli, along with Siraj went up to the South Africa great and checked on him. As expected, Kohli captaining sent users on Twitter on a nostalgia trip and fair enough, they couldn't hide their excitement.
Kohli was RCB's captain from 2011 to 2021 with his best performance coming in 2016, when with the bat, Virat amassed a gobsmacking 973 runs including four centuries and led RCB to the final. After a couple of wooden spoon finishes in 2017 and 2019, Kohli led RCB to the IPL Playoffs in 2020 and 2021. Under Kohli, RCB have played 140 matches under Kohli, winning 64 and losing 69. As RCB captain, Kohli scored 5565 runs.
RCB managed to beat LSG by 18 runs in a match that boiled down to the last over. Du Plessis' 96, Shahbaz Ahmed's 26 off 22 balls and Dinesh Karthik's cameo of 13 off 8 deliveries propelled RCB to 181/6. In response, pacer Josh Hazlewood claimed 4/25 and even though Harshal Patel was expensive going for 47 off four overs, his two wickets of KL Rahul and Jason Holder were instrumental in lifting RCB to the top of the points table.
