The Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be playing Chennai Super Kings on Sunday evening in Bengaluru. Now, star batter Virat Kohli has opened up about the crowd reaction when the two sides lock horns with each other.
“One team we’ve historically had the most intense games against, I feel, is playing CSK in Bengaluru,” Kohli said. “In Chennai, there are, of course, all CSK fans. In Bengaluru, fans from Chennai are also there, so it causes a bit of tension. At their stadium, there are just CSK fans everywhere. In Bengaluru, people are welcoming, like, ‘Come and see the game.’ But in Chennai, it’s all yellow, it’s like, ‘we won’t let you in.’ And our fans don’t go there as much. CSK fans, on the other hand, travel in huge numbers. They buy tickets very early and often end up occupying an entire section of the stadium. That creates a unique atmosphere. And, of course, the game itself becomes very intense,” he added.
The defending champions, RCB, have started their IPL 2026 campaign on a fantastic note. RCB thrashed Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets in the tournament opener.
Virat Kohli played a brilliant unbeaten knock of 38-ball 69, including five fours and as many sixes, that helped his side to chase down the challenging target of 202 runs in 15.4 overs. On Sunday, the defending champions will next face struggling
Chennai Super Kings, who have lost two consecutive matches in the ongoing IPL season.
Kohli has been in sublime form in the white-ball format. After a couple of forgettable days at the office on the Australia tour, the flamboyant batter made a resounding comeback and hit an unbeaten half-century. He added a couple of hundreds on the trot against South Africa at home and then struck a fifty in the three-match series.
The former skipper also made a return to domestic circuit to play two Vijay Hazare Trophy matches for Delhi where he notched up a ton and a fifty. The RCB batter didn’t stop here. He got out in 90s against New Zealand in one of the matches in three-ODI series while concluded it with a ton.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad:
Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Tim David, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar, Venkatesh Iyer, Mangesh Yadav, Vihaan Malhotra, Vicky Ostwal, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox, Swapnil Singh, Kanishk Chouhan, Satvik Deswal.
Covering sports for fun. Cricket in whites remains the first love—the kind that teaches patience, rewards nuance, and tells stories over five days rather than five seconds.
