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In the match no.61 of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, between the Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala. During the run chase, Virat Kohli showed an excellent presence of mind and experience as a former captain, as he helped Jitesh Sharma to pick the wicket of Priyansh Arya.
The incident occurred during the very first over of the match, as the Southpaw tried the third ball of the first over from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and mistimed the ball as it bottom-edged down to midwicket with Romario Shepherd taking a simple catch. Virat Kohli was pumped up after the wicket as Priyansh was dismissed on a duck.
Virat Kohli uses his tactical brilliance
Virat Kohli gave a fiery send-off to the young batter from Delhi, who has struggled to get runs in recent times. Teams have identified his weakness and have been cramping him while bowling into his body, where he has struggled to play shots. Ahead of this match, he had just one fifty in the last five innings.
Virat Kohli tactical masterclass. pic.twitter.com/s4mJggSEX6
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 17, 2026
In the video, it was clearly seen that Virat was doing hand gestures towards Jitesh of the pull shot, which Priyansh plays well, but it was the trap that worked against the aggressive opener. The left-handed batter needs to work on his weakness to survive longer in the tournament, like the IPL, otherwise he will be dropped from the squad soon, with new talents in Indian cricket.
Virat Kohli etches new milestone
The former India captain has already surpassed Chris Gayle in terms of scoring the fastest 14,000 runs in T20s in the last game. After scoring a hundred in the last game, he followed it up with a half-century today in the afternoon match. During the match, he scored seven runs, and has 5500+ runs as an opener.
The 37-year-old went past the 500+ runs in another edition of the IPL and became the only player to have scored more than 500 runs for the 9th time in the history of the tournament. This season, he has been excellent throughout for the franchise and also has record for playing the most matches in IPL history.
RCB post a massive total
Coming to the match, RCB were invited to bat first, as Kohli was off to a flying start, scoring 58 runs in the match. Along with him, Venkatesh Iyer scored 73* runs, and Tim David scored 28 off 11 deliveries as the reigning champions posted a total of 222/4 in their 20 overs.
While chasing, PBKS had the worst possible start, losing the top order inside three overs. The wickets kept falling in the match as PBKS are in trouble of losing their 6th consecutive match this season and possibly making it tough for themselves to qualify for the playoffs despite a good start.
Also Read: Venkatesh Iyer goes full Thalapathy Vijay after sensational fifty for RCB against PBKS in IPL 2026
