The two stalwarts of Indian cricket, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, faced off in their respective team’s first match of The Indian T20 League 2023 on Sunday when Bangalore hosted Mumbai at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The two have not played a single T20I for India since the end of the T20 World Cup in Australia in November, and it is believed that the team management has moved on from both Rohit and Kohli in terms of T20Is. With Hardik Pandya taking over as captain of India’s T20I team, Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s T20I careers are likely over.
In the Indian T20 League 2023 match, Kohli had a much better outing, scoring 82* as opposed to Rohit’s sluggish knock. Rohit batted first after Bangalore won the toss and asked Mumbai to bat, but he only managed 1 of 10 balls. Rohit took a single off the first ball and struggled to get going in the subsequent deliveries before edging to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.
A video involving Kohli and Rohit, on the other hand, appeared out of nowhere and caused quite a stir on social media. The stump mic caught Kohli telling bowler Mohammed Siraj to hit the batter on the helmet after Rohit tucked the first ball of the innings for a single. Kohli could be heard saying, “Maar, helmet pe maar iske.”
Here is Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s video
— Main Dheet Hoon (@MainDheetHoon69) April 5, 2023
As for the game, Bangalore had a great outing in the match as they registered a win in front of their home crowd after almost four years. After a terrible start, Mumbai managed to score 171 runs in the first innings, thanks to a brilliant half-century by Tilak Varma (84 runs in 46 balls).
Following that, it was the entire Bangalore show. Virat Kohli (82 runs in 49 balls) and Faf du Plessis (73 runs in 43 balls) combined for a 148-run opening stand, with each scoring a half-century. The Men in Blue and Red eventually won by 8 wickets.
