Kohli gets riled up, yells at Patidar after surviving mix-up; called out for ‘showing no interest’ in captain’s call

Having lost against the Punjab Kings at home on Friday, Virat Kohli was determined to lead the charge in Royal Challengers Bengaluru avenging the defeat in the second leg of the fixture in Chandigarh on Sunday. And he did ensure a win for the visitors with his unbeaten 73 as RCB chased down 158 with seven balls to spare. It was also their fourth win on the trot away from home.

En route to the win, Kohli was involved in a fiery mid-pitch moment with Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar. It happened on the fourth ball of the 16th over. The 36-year-old pulled a back of the length delivery from Arshdeep Singh through the leg side and called for a two straightaway. After completing the first run, Patidar immediately called against a second run, but Kohli had his eyes on the fielder and sprinted back towards the striker's end, leaving the RCB captain stranded. However, the latter survived after the throw went wayward. Shreyas Iyer was the fielder backing up but couldn't fire a direct hit as Patidar just made his way back to the crease in time.

Kohli was left fuming at Patidar after the two survived a horrible mix-up and was seen yelling at him. Patidar too, was agitated, but only responded with a thumbs up, and tempers cooled quickly.

As the replay was shown, former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar, who was in the Hindi commentary box, said: "Virat is not happy because Patidar doesn't run that fast between the wickets."

Fellow commentator and former India cricketer Aakash Chopra added: “We saw Nehal Wadhera get out in the same way. Nehal was running, but Josh Inglis was not at all interested. There should have been a run-out here. Kohli was going for the second run, and he just kept running. He wasn't even looking at Patidar. He showed no interest in whether Patidar was there or not. In the end, Patidar ran because Kohli ran.”

Kohli sets up RCB win

The in-form star batter smashed his fourth half-century of the ongoing IPL season and surpassed Australia's David Warner for the most 50-plus scores in the history of the T20 tournament. Kohli has now made it past the 50-mark 67 times, including eight centuries.

Kohli was assisted by Devdutt Paddikal, who scored a fiery 61, as the second-wicket pair stitched a 103-run stand that propelled Bengaluru to victory.

Bengaluru and Punjab, both seeking their maiden IPL title, now have the same points (10) from eight matches each, only to be separated by net run rate.