What’s the story
In some news which would please every Royal Challengers Bengaluru fan, skipper Virat Kohli dropped strong hints of his comeback in the 2017 IPL for his franchise in the team’s home game against the Mumbai Indians on the 14th of April.
In a video on his Instagram profile, the 28-year-old wrote that he could not wait to get back to the field and summed up the post with the date ‘14th April’.
“Can't wait to get back onto the field. Almost there now . 14th April ” he wrote.
In case you didn’t know...
Kohli has been out of action since the third India-Australia Test at Ranchi, where while diving to save a boundary at long-on, he sustained a shoulder injury, which forced him to sit out of deciding Test at Dharamshala towards the end of March.
In the post-match presentation of that game, the Delhi cricketer had said that he was still a few weeks away from recovering fully from the injury. At the start of this month, the BCCI released a statement, stating that an assessment of his injury will be made in the second week of April.
The heart of the matter
In the absence of Kohli, the 2016 runners-up have their campaign this year with mixed results under the leadership of Shane Watson. They lost the first game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on the opening day of the competition.
Later that week, the team defended a mediocre total against the Delhi Daredevils on home turf, thanks to a fine bowling effort and then on Monday, despite a superb batting performance by AB de Villers, suffered an eight-wicket hammering at the hands of the Kings Xi Punjab.
Extra Cover: IPL 2017: BCCI confirm Virat Kohli will miss start of IPL 10
What’s next?
If Kohli does come back for the game on Friday, then he will most likely be drafted to the opening position along with either Chris Gayle or Mandeep Singh or Vishnu Vinod. He tasted a lot of success last year, batting at that position, scoring four centuries to lead his side almost single-handedly to the final of the competition.
Keeping that success in mind, he even opened the innings for India in the T20I series against England, but could not attain as much success as he did in the IPL last year.
Author’s take
The news of Kohli hinting a return to the team for the next game will please every RCB fan, who is hoping for the team to bounce back and string a few consistent wins to gather some momentum.
If Kohli does comeback for the game, he will not just strengthen the batting line-up, but also help enhance the leadership aspect as well.
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