Viral video: Virat Kohli shouts 'helmet pe maar iske' after Rohit Sharma takes single during RCB vs MI clash
After MI skipper Rohit Sharma took a single to open his account on the first ball of the innings, Kohli was heard saying, "Maar, Helmet pe maar uske."
The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) kicked off their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 campaign with a resounding 8-wicket victory over the Mumbai Indians. The RCB chased down a target of 172 runs in just 16.2 overs, with skipper Faf du Plessis smashing a quickfire 73 off 43 and Virat Kohli remaining unbeaten on 82 off just 49 deliveries.
The match was highly anticipated, as two of India's senior players, Kohli and Rohit Sharma, faced off against each other. While they share a different camaraderie when playing for India, in the IPL, they are fierce opponents, and fans got a glimpse of this in an unseen video from the match.
A few days after the match, an unseen video emerged, capturing Kohli's comment on the stump mic. After MI skipper Rohit Sharma took a single to open his account on the first ball of the innings, Kohli was heard saying, "Maar, Helmet pe maar uske."
While some fans deemed the comment distasteful, others argued that it was a common parlance for bowling a bouncer to the batter. However, there was no clarity on whether Kohli directed the comment towards the bowler Mohammed Siraj for Rohit or his opening partner Ishan Kishan.
Check out the reactions here:
During the 2019 World Cup, rumors of a rift between Indian cricket stars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were rampant. In a recent interview, Shikhar Dhawan even confirmed that ego clashes and miscommunications are inevitable when players spend 220 days a year together. Former India fielding coach R Sridhar also revealed in his book that coach Ravi Shastri once sat Kohli and Rohit down to impress upon them the importance of being on the same page for the health of Indian cricket. This tension persisted until the end of 2021, when Kohli was removed as India's ODI captain and later stepped down as Test skipper, with Rohit taking over as all-format leader.
Despite this history, it appears that all is well between the two batting superstars. Rohit and Kohli now revel in each other's successes and celebrate the team's victories together. They have even been seen doing post-match interviews and engaging in wild celebrations after India's T20I win against Australia at home last October. In fact, the only positive outcome of former BCCI selector Chetan Sharma's infamous sting was the revelation of the level of respect between the two players, as Sharma noted that no one supported Kohli during his lean phase more than Rohit.