An unusual moment was seen during Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) innings against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) when their talisman Virat Kohli hugged Gautam Gambhir in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday.
Kohli came as an opener for RCB and stayed till the end, scoring 83 off 59 balls with eight boundaries as his side posted 182-6 in the allocated overs. The two met in the 16th over when KKR’s mentor, Gautam Gambhir, walked on the field to give instructions to his side during the strategic timeout.
Seeing Gambhir coming towards him, Kohli approached the former batter with a handshake after which the two hugged and shared some words which brought a smile to everyone’s face.
The story consisting of the two goes all the way back to IPL 2023 when Kohli and Gambhir were in the headlines following their heated encounter and a verbal spat at the end of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Gambhir’s previous side, vs RCB match.
The players along with match officials had to intervene to stop the heated argument between the two. Kohli hugging Gambhir reminded everyone of the time when the 35-year-old hugged Afghanistan’s Naveen-ul-Haq in IPL 2023 and asked the crowd to stop booing him.
During the innings, Kohli came as an opener and remained till the last ball as he top-scored for his side. The 2011 World Cup winner also overcame the legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s (MSD) record of fourth-most sixes in the tournament’s history.
Kohli now has 241 maximums in IPL history, only behind Chris Gayle (357), Rohit Sharma (261), AB de Villiers (251).
While doing so, he also became the player with the most sixes for RCB in the franchise’s history. The 35-year-old surpassed Gayle to achieve the feat. Remember, Kohli is the only player to have only represented one team in IPL ever since its inception in 2008 and thus, all his maximums came for them.
Most sixes for RCB in IPL history
Virat Kohli – 241*
Chris Gayle – 239
AB de Villiers – 238
Glenn Maxwell – 67
Faf du Plessis – 50
