Virat Kohli flexes muscles, set to make IPL return for Royal Challengers Bangalore

India and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli is set to play his first match of IPL 2017 after successfully returning to full fitness following a shoulder injury

Virat Kohli’s absence from the 2017 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has left many fans expectant.

Virat Kohli, who has now recovered from the shoulder injury he had suffered during the India-Australia series, is set to make his return to the Royal Challengers Bangalore side in IPL 2017. (Hindustan Times)

The India national team captain was injured in the third of the four-Test series against Australia last month.

Diving to save a boundary, Kohli injured his shoulder during the Test in Ranchi and missed the deciding fourth Test in Dharamsala that saw India regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

He was also ruled out for the opening phase of IPL 2017.

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The BCCI had released a statement then saying that he would be assessed by the board’s medical team in the second week of the league to determine if he was ready to play.

Kohli himself announced that he would only return to action if he felt that he was 120 per cent fit.

Later on, he updated fans of his progress via a video from a training session with his pet dog.

Now Kohli has revealed that he will play his first match in the tenth IPL season this week.

The aggressive batter is set to return to his duties as captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team when they take on Mumbai Indians at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on April 14 (Friday).

The Delhi-born cricketer uploaded a video of himself lifting weights over his head to indicate his return to fitness and also let his fans know when they would see him in action.

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“Can’t wait to get back onto the field. Almost there now. 14th April (sic)”, Kohli captioned the video that he posted on his Instagram profile on Tuesday.

RCB haven’t enjoyed the best start to their season in Kohli’s absence. They have won one match but lost two so far.

The good news was that AB de Villiers returned to the team after an injury layoff of his own but his heroics against Kings XI Punjab on Monday were not enough as RCB lost by eight wickets.