The cricket star Virat Kohli has been in fine form with the bat during the intra-squad warm-up game ahead of the IPL 2026 opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Virat has scored 12-ball 29 at a strike rate of 241, six days ahead of IPL 2026’s first match at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Split into teams led by Krunal Pandya and Venkatesh Iyer, the batters had a strong outing in a friendly practice game. The team has gathered in Bengaluru and is already in full training mode.
The official handle shared a practice session on Monday, highlighting key moments. In the clip, Krunal mentioned that the batters have been in excellent touch during Sunday’s session.
“It was a good practice game. Everyone had a good hit. Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled really well, Abhinandan (Singh) bowled really well, Mangesh (Yadav) bowled really well,” Krunal said.
On the other hand, Jitesh Sharma was in hot form, scoring 81 runs off 37 deliveries at a strike rate of almost 219. He will be taking on the finisher role during the campaign.
𝗥𝗖𝗕’𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝗨𝗽 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲: 𝘈 𝘳𝘶𝘯-𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘴𝘸𝘢𝘮𝘺
Jitesh, Rajat, Devdutt and KP amongst the runs, exciting cameos from Virat, Venky and TD, and some promising spells to sum up an exciting practice game.
Watch how it all… pic.twitter.com/SAaT2kPNox
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) March 23, 2026
Alongside, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David (36 off 14 deliveries), and Venkatesh Iyer (30 off 16 deliveries) have been in fine form with the bat.
The franchise has been seeing on options to squeeze in Venkatesh who joined the side during IPL 2026 auction for INR 7 crore.
Krunal Pandya also highlighted Virat Kohli’s knock, noting that he has great rhythm from the start. RCB will be counting on their Talisman for another strong campaign as they aim for triumph in the IPL 2026 season.
RCB will begin their title defence at home against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 28 at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
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