Virat Kohli (Image credit: BCCCI/IPL)
New Delhi: The decibel levels rose at the Wankhede Stadium the moment Virat Kohli walked out to bat for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. With helmet on and bat in hand, Kohli paused to kiss the boundary rope before stepping onto the field, sending the crowd into a frenzy.Put in to bat by Mumbai Indians, RCB saw the noise levels rise further when Kohli took the strike after a single from his opening partner Phil Salt.
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After a dot ball against a fiery Trent Boult, Kohli stooped and bowled the next ball over square leg for a six to get off the mark, eliciting thunderous applause from the stands.Kohli looked with great touch, and in the process, became the first batsman to score more than 1,000 runs against Mumbai Indians in IPL history. He put together a blistering 120-run opening partnership with Salt, who played a blistering knock of 78 off 36 balls before being dismissed by Shardul Thakur.Coming into the game, Kohli made three appearances in IPL 2026, scoring an unbeaten 69 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, followed by a knock of 28 against Chennai Super Kings and 32 against Rajasthan Royals.Earlier, Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl.
MI made two changes, bringing in Mitchell Santner and Mayank Markande in place of AM Ghazanfar and Deepak Chahar.Meanwhile, RCB captain Rajat Patidar has included Jacob Duffy in the playing XI, replacing Australian spinner Josh Hazlewood.the difference:Mumbai Indians: Ryan Rickleton (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (captain), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande.Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Tim David, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma.
