Mumbai: It’s time for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) fans to celebrate, as their captain Virat Kohli is all set to don his captain’s hat for this year’s IPL after a brief injury lay-off. The Indian captain will be back leading the Bangalore-based franchise against Mumbai Indians on Friday.
In a recent Instagram post, Kohli wrote, “Can’t wait to get back onto the field. Almost there now. 14th April.” while showing off his deadly workout. RCB, on the other hand, have shown how desperately they need their skipper as they’re currently at the 6th position on the points table. It’s not a flying start for the team with the absence of the skipper, RCB is struggling to even put up a tough fight. With just one win and two losses, they have to step up their game.
It may be recalled, Kohli had injured his shoulder while chasing a ball and bumped onto the ground, at Ranchi during the third Test match against Australia for the Border-Gavaskar trophy. After, the incident took place he was taken back to the dressing room for medical attention.
In a statement released by the BCCI last month, they said, “The Indian Captain will undergo rehabilitation after sustaining an injury to his right shoulder. His recovery will be assessed in the second week of April to determine an exact return to play date for IPL 2017.” The fan favourite skipper will join his teammates at M Chinnaswamy Stadium to take on the Mumbai Indians on 14th April.
Ab de Villiers, with his phenomenal 89 of just 46 balls against Punjab was a perfect returning gift to his fans, even though they lost the match, it surely gave a glimpse of the upcoming fireworks which would help them regain their momentum.
“I don’t want to take any chances with Champions Trophy (in June) coming up. I want to be 120% fit,” Kohli had said in a statement in Hyderabad during the IPL opening ceremony.
With all the pressure mounted on his shoulder to crown the team as champions for the first time in ten years, he might want to be 200 percent fit for this tournament.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times and The Deccan Chronicle)