IPL 2023: Virat Kohli Switches on Beast Mode, Leading Faf du Plessis Run For His Life

IPL 2023: Royal Challengers Bangalore is all set to play its first game of the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League on Sunday, April 2. They will take on the five-time champion Mumbai Indians at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. RCB had a decent performance in 2022, finishing third after losing Qualifier 2 against Rajasthan Royals. But a lot has changed since the last season. The biggest confidence booster for the RCB is former skipper Virat Kohli.

The 34-year-old seems to have regained his form and is looking great. He recently smashed his much-awaited test century in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. It all began after the Asia Cup 2022 when Virat got back to his form and started scoring centuries. He has scored five centuries in all formats since the Asia Cup. Virat was also the highest run-getter in the 2022 T20 World Cup.

IPL 2023: Watch – Virat Kohli practices power hitting causing Faf du Plessis to run for his life

Virat will hold the key for RCB in the ongoing edition. His presence at the top will be solid for the team. RCB will look to start their campaign with a win on Sunday and hope runs come off Virat’s bat. Although it will be the first time after 2020 that the RCB will play a home game.

that, the team is practicing hard, and Virat himself was seen practicing some big shots. In a video uploaded on Twitter by the RCB, he was seen smashing the bowlers at the nets. Meanwhile, Faf du Plessis, who was in an interview, was afraid of the ball hitting him.

Virat stepped down from the captaincy after the 2021 season. Then, the franchise signed Faf du Plessis at the auction and named him the captain of the team. The former skipper scored 341 runs in 16 innings at an average strike rate of 22.73 and 115.98 in 2022.

However, RCB will be without ace pacer Josh Hazlewood, who has not completely recovered from the injury. He will miss the first half of the edition. But they signed English left-armer Reece Topley, who might make his IPL debut against MI on Sunday. The franchise is eagerly waiting to win its first IPL title and would like to end this trophy drought.