Virat Kohli gifts bat to Rinku Singh in a beautiful gesture after RCB's defeat to KKR

Indian batting stalwart Virat Kohli won hearts both on and off the pitch as he gifted his bat to none other than Kolkata Knight Riders’ explosive batter Rinku Singh. It was revealed on the official Instagram handle of KKR, right after their 7-wicket win against Royal Challengers Bengaluru last night at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium. That match gave a lot of moments and the interaction between Kohli and Rinku was just another one.

The tie between RCB and KKR which was match number 10 of IPL 2024, was touted to be this week’s most exciting and heated match-up. However, it didn’t turn out to be the one, all of us would have expected and had waited for a long time. Fans were expecting to see another chapter being added to Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir’s rivalry that started way back in 2013.

Last year, the duo got into it when Gambhir was mentoring the Lucknow Super Giants. After the initial flames lit up by Avesh Khan’s helmet throw in Chinnaswamy, things escalated when Naveen-Ul-Haq instigated Virat Kohli during the reverse fixture in Lucknow. Therein, Gambhir and Kohli had an intense argument which later on became the most viral moment of IPL 2023. But last night, they hugged, shook hands, and smiled at each other, and after that, Kohli gifted his bat to Rinku Singh.

Virat Kohli shares his bat and hugs Rinku Singh

In the Instagram post shared by KKR, Virat Kohli can be seen saying something to Rinku Singh about the bat he was giving to him. It was a carousel post that also had pictures of Rinku along with Kohli and Rohit Sharma during the T20I series they played together against Afghanistan earlier in January. The last slide had a picture of Rinku and Kohli together during the left-hand batter’s initial seasons of the IPL. “The bond we love to see! 💜❤️” KKR captioned the post.

View this post on Instagram

A<!----> <!---->p<!---->o<!---->s<!---->t<!----> <!---->s<!---->h<!---->a<!---->r<!---->e<!---->d<!----> <!---->b<!---->y<!----> <!---->K<!---->o<!---->l<!---->k<!---->a<!---->t<!---->a<!----> <!---->K<!---->n<!---->i<!---->g<!---->h<!---->t<!----> <!---->R<!---->i<!---->d<!---->e<!---->r<!---->s<!----> <!---->(<!---->@<!---->k<!---->k<!---->r<!---->i<!---->d<!---->e<!---->r<!---->s<!---->)

That same post was later uploaded by Rinku Singh on his Instagram story with a caption that read, “Thank you for the advice bhaiya and also for the bat.”

So it was all friendliness during the contest between KKR and RCB and it appeared that there was no room for hatred, fights, or anger. It was evident from the first strategic timeout of the match when Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar were present in the crease. Gautam Gambhir himself came up to Kohli and possibly squashed the entire beef between them.

Virat Kohli and RCB aim to get back to winning ways against LSG

Meanwhile, following the 7-wicket loss to the hands of KKR in front of home support which also ended the home advantage scenario in IPL, RCB will welcome LSG up next. This particular tie last year made headlines, all because of the argument between Virat Kohli and Naveen-Ul-Haq-Gautam Gambhir. The South-Indian franchise is ahead of Lucknow in the head-to-head stats with RCB winning thrice and LSG winning only once. The match will take place on 2nd April.