Senior Royal Challengers Bangalore batter Virat Kohli struggled to score in the team’s outing against Chennai Super Kings on Friday, March 27. Kohli faced 30 balls after opening the innings but managed to score only 31 runs.
Kohli was unable to get into his stride throughout his innings and stuttered to 31 runs. He was troubled by both pace and spin, but fared slightly better against pace at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
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The RCB talisman was hit on the head by a bouncer from fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana. Pathirana’s surprise bumper caught Kohli off-guard, as he was first hit on the grill and then on his helmet. Kohli did manage to hit Pathirana for a six and a four immediately after, but his momentum was quickly halted by Noor Ahmad in the 13th over.
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Noor trapped Kohli in the deep, producing a false shot from the batter, which went straight into the hands of Rachin Ravindra.
A section of the fans trolled Kohli over his strike rate in this game. He finished with a strike rate of 103.33, much lower than his opening partner, Phil Salt. Salt started off in a completely different style, hitting 32 off just 16 balls. However, Salt was dismissed by a magical stumping from MS Dhoni in the 5th over of the match, which resulted in the RCB run rate taking a significant hit.