Watch: Virat Kohli hits Sam Curran for 4 fours in 1st over to stun PBKS

Virat Kohli hit Sam Curran for 4 fours in the first over as he got a reprieve from Jonny Bairstow during the game between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday.

Asked to bat first, Punjab Kings posted a competitive total of 176 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs. After Bairstow departed cheaply, Shikhar Dhawan and Prabhsimran Singh steadied the ship by adding 55 runs for the second wicket. After Prabhsimran’s departure, Dhawan and Liam Livingstone added 26 runs for the third wicket before departing on successive deliveries.

Sam Curran and Jitesh Sharma then added 52 runs for the fifth wicket before they too departed in quick succession. Towards the end, Shashank Singh came up with an unbeaten cameo of 21 runs to help his side post a 170-plus total.

Virat Kohli gets huge reprieve:

With the ball, Punjab Kings were agonizingly close to getting the huge wicket of Virat Kohli in the very first over. After starting with a dot delivery, Curran made Virat Kohli edge one behind the stumps. It was a wide delivery that was going away with the angle and the former India skipper went for a drive.

However, he could not make good contact and the ball flew towards Bairstow at first slip. It was a regulation catch but the England star let the ball go through his palms and the ball ran away to the third man for four. And it did not take Virat Kohli long to show Bairstow how big a mistake he had made. The RCB star hit Curran for three more fours to get going.

Watch the drop from Jonny Bairstow:

Virat Kohli got lucky as Bairstow dropped Virat Kohli's catch in 2nd ball of the match .
Then Virat followed with 3 fours in the same over .

Will Bairstow dropped catch result in RCB win ?#PBKSvsRCB#ViratKohli𓃵 #IPL2024 #TATAIPL #HappyHoli #RohitSharma𓃵 pic.twitter.com/JUTX6LZtCv

— Vinay Kumar (@imvinay1003) March 25, 2024

Watch as Virat Kohli hits three fours after the reprieve:

𝗙𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝘁! ✨

King Kohli is off the mark in the chase and how 😎

Head to @JioCinema and @StarSportsIndia to watch the match LIVE#TATAIPL | #RCBvPBKS | @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/mgYvM716Gs

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 25, 2024

At the time of writing this report, RCB were on 103 for 3 after 12 overs. Kohli, who was dismissed for 21 in the last game against Chennai Super Kings, was batting on 63 off 38 balls with the help of nine fours and two sixes.