The Royal Challengers Bangalore beat the SunRisers Hyderabad by six runs on Thursday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The win consolidated RCB's position at the top of the IPL points table with two wins from two matches.
Virat Kohli, tactically astute leading RCB during SRH's chase, however, endured a difficult time with the bat in hand.
Opening the innings, Kohli managed to score only 33 runs from 29 balls at a low strike rate of 113.79. Just when he was looking to free his arms and accelerate the innings, he top-edged a good length ball off Jason Holder in the 13th over and Vijay Shankar took a sharp catch to send the RCB captain back to the dugout.
On his way back to the dugout, a visibly disappointed and fuming Kohli smashed the boundary rope with his bat, thereby breaking the IPL's Code of Conduct. He also hit an empty chair near the dugout and has been reprimanded for these actions by match referee Narayanan Kutty.
An IPL statement said, "Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has been reprimanded for breaching the VIVO Indian Premier League’s Code of Conduct during his team’s match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. Mr Kohli admitted to the Level 1 offence 2.2 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct. For Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct, the Match Referee’s decision is final and binding."
Even though RCB managed to score only 149 on a turning Chennai pitch, it eventually proved to be enough as SRH, who needed 35 to win from four overs with eight wickets left, imploded dramatically to finish at 143.
"To be very honest, we are not overexcited with wins this season. We have plans. We traded Harshal (Patel) from Delhi, gave him a specific role and he's doing a great job," Kohli said at the post-match presentation.
"I told the guys: 'Don't think that we struggled to get to 149. If it was tough for us, it will be tough for them as well.' Our execution under pressure was spot on. It kept getting tougher and tougher with the old ball. I think Maxi's innings was the difference for us," he added.
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