Virat Kohli to join the RCB camp on...

Indian batting stalwart Virat Kohli who has been out of action since January, is expected to join the Royal Challengers Bangalore camp later this week by 16th or 17th of March, reports have indicated. Kohli will make his return to competitive cricket through the tournament, which is expected to be a scintillating edition for a lot of reasons.

But RCB fans will be more eager to see their club legend Virat Kohli return to the M.Chinnaswamy for the first time since January 2024. Kohli played his last match for team India on January 17th in the 3rd and series-concluding T20I against Afghanistan in which he had got out for a golden duck off pacer Fareed Ahmed. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma had smacked 121* in the same match whose result was decided after playing two back-to-back super overs.

BCCI source confirms that Virat Kohli will return this week

According to sources close to BCCI, Virat Kohli is likely to join the RCB camp in the next few days and by this week. During a recent build-up show for IPL 2024, Star Sports had revealed that Kohli will join the rest of his teammates on the 16th or 17th of March, 4-5 days before RCB play their opening match against Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram stadium on 23rd March.

The 36-year-old had been on leave since earlier this year due to the birth of his second child with Bollywood actress wife Anushka Sharma. On February 20th, Virat Kohli took to his official Instagram handle and revealed that he had been blessed with a baby boy whom they named Akaay on February 15th, 2024.

“With abundant happiness and our hearts full of love, we are pleased to inform everyone that on 15th February, we welcomed our baby boy Akaay and Vamika’s little brother into this world! We seek your blessings and good wishes in this beautiful time in our lives. We request you to kindly respect our privacy at this time. Love & Gratitude – Virat & Anushka.” – Kohli posted on Instagram.

Virat Kohli will be returning after quite a long time and he will be aiming to make up for the time lost, hopefully with a couple of centuries in IPL this year. Last season, Kohli scored 639 runs from 14 matches at a strike rate of 139 and an average of 53.25. His 600+ runs included 2 sensational centuries and 6 half-centuries with a best of 101*.

This season, he will be aiming to build on his 7263 IPL runs, the most by a batter in the history of the tournament. Virat Kohli will have to rewind the clock and play similarly to how he played in the 2016 season when he scored 973 runs, the most in any season. If he does so, Kohli will reach the 8000-run landmark from which he is just 737 runs away.

RCB full squad for IPL 2024

Faf du Plessis (C), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan