‘Channeled his frustration against LSG bowlers’ – Abhinav Mukund on Virat Kohli’s fiery knock

Virat Kohli (Source: IPL)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finished second on the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 points table after beating Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their last game of the round-robin phase on Tuesday, May 27. The win gives RCB two opportunities to reach the final.

Virat Kohli played an important knock as his 30-ball 54 set up the platform, which helped the likes of Jitesh Sharma and Mayank Agarwal capitalise as RCB chased down a formidable 228-run target at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. The 36-year-old Kohli hit 10 fours during his elegant innings.

Ex-India cricketer Abhinav Mukund feels that RCB’s lacklustre bowling performance and misfields in the first innings irked Kohli. The former said that Kohli took out his frustration on the LSG bowlers.

“I mean with this all due respect to Kohli, but I just feel that he was riled up after that first innings, and it is very bad news for somebody, today it just ended up being LSG. He came in with all of those juices flowing, with the anger of the first innings, those misfields, and the lacklustre bowling performance. It just gave him another gear, I feel,” said Mukund.

Mukund opined that this was one of Kohli’s best half-centuries in IPL 2025 as he looked in remarkable control during his knock.

“He was batting beautifully. I think this is one of his best fifties of the season, by what I saw, because whatever he attempted, he would have got atleast 80-85 percent (of control) or higher. That is incredible to have.” he added.

Kohli has scored 602 runs from 13 innings in IPL 2025, averaging 60.20 at a strike rate of 147.92. The former India captain has registered eight half-centuries so far. After his half-century, Jitesh Sharma’s unbeaten 33-ball 85 took RCB over the line. This was RCB’s highest successful run-chase in IPL history as they reached the mammoth target with six wickets and eight balls to spare.

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