A fan invaded the pitch to meet Virat Kohli during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 opener between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata on Saturday. Moments after the star India batter reached his half-century, the fan jumped over the guardrails and ran towards him. Virat was visibly surprised as the fan grabbed his legs and fell on the ground. The fan was escorted out of the ground by the security personnel and according to reports, he was arrested by the authorities. A new video has now emerged showing how the fan exactly entered the ground and tricked the security.
RCB went on to clinch the match easily by seven wickets.
Fan Arrested
Virat Kohli fan who breached security to touch the star batman’s feet yday has been arrested: Reports
Video & Photos From X pic.twitter.com/ZNbU3CgGPF
— Soumyajit Pattnaik (@soumyajitt) March 23, 2025
Following the RCB’s win, former Australia batter Matthew Hayden analysed Kohli’s approach in the chase and said the 175 was the perfect total for the former skipper to chase down.
“This was the perfect total for Virat Kohli to chase down. If you find yourself in a par or slightly above-par scenario on such a surface, that’s where he thrives. It’s crucial that Phil Salt, as his partner, helps elevate the strike rate and scoring rate. Kohli has picked up exactly where he left off with Kolkata Knight Riders, but tonight and over the past two seasons, we’ve seen ‘Virat Kohli 2.0.’
“Especially in the middle overs, he was really damaging. He finds it quite easy against pace in the powerplay, but today, through the middle overs, he maintained a strike rate above 170—exactly what was needed,” said Hayden on JioHotstar.
India legend Sunil Gavaskar further highlighted the performances of Rajat Patidar, also made merry on his RCB captaincy debut with a quickfire 34 off 16, stating, “Rajat Patidar has played under Virat Kohli and spent a lot of time with him, so he would have gelled a lot easier. You could see that as soon as he went in to bat, Kohli was giving him the confidence to relax and play. And what an innings Virat Kohli played! What an innings Patidar played! It was a superb knock—the way he was stroking the ball and making it look easy.
“Recognising that a quick victory is also important in the long run, RCB’s ability to restrict KKR from what initially looked like a 200-210 score down to 175 will give them loads of confidence. As a captain and a batter, Rajat Patidar has come good. Everything he did, including bowling changes, was outstanding,” Gavaskar said on JioHotstar.
(With IANS inputs)
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