NEW DELHI: The decibel level at the Wankhede Stadium went up at that moment. Virat Kohli Royal Challengers went out to bat for Bengaluru. Helmet on and bat in hand, Kohli paused to kiss the boundary rope before stepping onto the field, sending the crowd into a frenzy.Put into bat by Mumbai IndiansRCB saw the noise level rise further when Kohli struck after a single from his opening partner Phil Salt.
After a dot ball against the incendiary Trent Boult, Kohli stooped to hit the next delivery over square leg for a six, earning a thunderous applause from the stands.Kohli looked brilliant and, in the process, became the first batsman in IPL history to score more than 1,000 runs against Mumbai Indians. He put on a 120-run opening partnership with Salt, who played an aggressive innings of 78 off 36 balls before Shardul Thakur was dismissed.Coming into the game, Kohli scored an unbeaten 69 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in three matches in IPL 2026, followed by 28 against Chennai Super Kings and 32 against Rajasthan Royals.Earlier, Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to field. MI made two changes, replacing AM Ghazanfar and Deepak Chahar with Mitchell Santner and Mayank Markande.RCB captain Rajat PatidarMeanwhile, Jacob Duffy was included in the playing XI, replacing Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood.Teams:Mumbai Indians: Ryan Rickelton (wicket), Rohit Sharma, Surya Kumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya (captain), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande.Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Tim David, Jitesh Sharma (wicket), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma.
