Virat Kohli has returned to training ahead of the Indian Premier League. The India and Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper sweated it out at the nets on Sunday in Bangalore. The official Twitter account of RCB franchise posted pictures of the captain training hard during the practice session. While the Indian Premier League’s 11th edition will kick start on April 7, RCB will begin the campaign on April 8 as they are scheduled to face former two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata.
Kohli was one of the three players that were retained by RCB and he thus became the only player to be a part of same franchise team since the inception of IPL. He was retained by RCB for Rs 17 crore, making him the highest paid cricketer in IPL. AB de Villiers and Sarfraz Khan were the other two players who were retained by RCB. The Indian skipper had earlier missed out the Nidahas Trophy 2018 that India won last month to take a break from the game.
RCB during the auctions made some surprising decisions as they let off hard-hitter Chris Gayle who eventually was sold to Kings XI Punjab. But the Bangalore franchise didn’t really compromise on batting strength and roped in T20 specialist like Brendon McCullum and Quinton de Kock. India seamer Umesh Yadav who was earlier a part of KKR was also bought by RCB while youngsters like Washington Sundar and Mohammad Siraj got heavy price to join the side.
Virat has been a consistent performer while donning the RCB jersey as he scored a total 4418 runs in 149 matches. Kohli had an exceptional 2016 season where he hammered 973 runs in 16 matches including four hundreds–most by any player in a single season.
Squad: Virat Kohli (retained 17 c), AB de Villiers (retained 11 c), Sarfraz Khan (retained 3 c), Brendon McCullum (3.6 c), Chris Woakes (7.4 c), Colin de Grandhomme (2.2 c), Moeen Ali (1.7 c), Quinton de Kock (2.8 c), Umesh Yadav (4.2 c), Yuzvendra Chahal (6 c), Manan Vohra (1.1 c), Kulwant Kejroliya (85 Lakh), Aniket Choudhary (30 Lakh), Navdeep Saini (3 c), Murugan Ashwin (2.2 Cr), Mandeep Singh (1.4 Cr), Washington Sundar (3.2 Cr), Pawan Negi (1 Cr RTM), Mohammad Siraj (2.6 Cr), Nathan Coulter-Nile (2.2 Cr), Anirudha Joshi (20L)