Testing times for royals

Kohli sustained a split webbing on his left hand while fielding against Kolkata Knight Riders as he went for a diving catch. He left the field briefly to get medical assistance, got his webbing taped and was back in field. He then played another classy knock to keep RCB’s play-off qualification hopes alive. 

“I might need 7-8 stitches,” Kohli had said after the match but if KXIP thought that the opposition skipper will make himself unavailable, they would be in for disappointment as RCB’s manager Avinash Vaidya said that India’s No 1 batsman will be playing on Wednesday. 

IPL’s perennial whipping boys KXIP are out of the tournament and are in a mood to complete formalities while RCB will be hoping that they record another big win to take their points tally to 14 and survive to fight till the last round of the league engagements. RCB are currently lying fifth and two wins will take them to the play-offs. 

For Punjab, who have now lost Glenn Maxwell due to a side strain, their job will be to make life difficult for the RCB but on a small Chinnaswamy ground, the possibilities are pretty less. 

Kohli has got tremendous support from AB de Villiers, who is second in the list of run-getters. KL Rahul has also had a good IPL so far with 332 runs.