The drama unfolded late during the RCB-DC tie at the M Chinnaswamy on Thursday when home team great Virat Kohli indulged in an animated chat with coach Dinesh Karthik. Kohli appeared to be mad at the team captain, Rajat Patidar, over some captaincy howlers that saw Delhi make the most of their momentum and complete their fourth successful win in IPL 2025.
Chasing a moderate 164, Delhi lost three wickets inside the Powerplay, including their openers and gloveman Abishek Porel, all on single digits; the team captain Axar Patel departed soon after, leaving KL Rahul and overseas batter Tristan Stubbs to take care of the chase. The pair did well, adding over 100 runs for the fifth wicket and eventually leading the side home, maintaining their winning streak.
After the halfway point during the second innings, when Rahul began accelerating, Kohli, standing in the deep as he often does, wasn't looking too happy with some of the captaincy changes; he later approached coach Karthik and ranted about it.
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True. He had a long discussion with DK...then he spoke with Bhuvi .. he didn't even join the group while the last strategic time out.
— KC (@chakriMsrk) April 10, 2025
He was not happy with something for sure.
Video credit: @JioHotstar pic.twitter.com/0pAXuDWP0w
Looking at it, the TV commentators Aakash Chopra and Virender Sehwag said if he's having any problem with anyone or anything, Kohli must communicate it to the skipper as he's not the captain anymore.
Patidar blames batters for RCB loss
Bengaluru lost their second match thus far this season, and team captain Patidar blamed the batters' failure to read the pitch and the conditions better than their opposition. Batting first, the RCB openers hit 61 runs inside four overs, but the remaining batters could add only 102 more in the remaining 16.1 overs.
"I think the way we saw the wicket, it was quite different. We thought it was a nice batting wicket, but we didn't bat well. I don't think so (if the batters were overconfident), every batter was in a good frame of mind, showing proper intent.
"But it wasn't acceptable to go from 80 for 1 to 90 for 4, we have a good batting line-up, but we need to assess the situation. That has been positive, the way Tim David accelerated was amazing, the bowling in the powerplay was special. We aren't thinking about our away record, but we just need to play good cricket and keep it simple," Patidar said after the game," he said after the game.
Meanwhile, RCB sits in third place on the points table with three wins from five contested matches and Delhi, with four wins in as many games, is second only behind Gujarat Titans.
(With inputs from agencies)