Watch: Virat Kohli engaged in banter with Shubman Gill during RCB vs GT clash of IPL 2026

It was a bizarre situation, in the good way, with the Gujarat Titans during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the visiting side’s captain, Shubman Gill, seemed to be spending the entire 20 overs at the non-striker’s end. 

In the first five overs of the innings, Shubman Gill faced only three balls out of 30 legal deliveries and made only two runs. Apart from that, his partner, Sai Sudharsan, who played 27 balls by that time, was unbeaten on 41 runs with the 2022 champions finishing with 45 runs without any damage in five overs.

Virat Kohli sledges Shubman Gill during RCB vs GT clash

It was after the fifth over of the innings when Virat Kohli walked out to Gill at the non-striker and had a few words in a friendly manner. The former had a beaming smile on his face as he tried to ask Gill, seemingly, if he would ever get the chance to bat at all in the power play, with Sudharsan taking most of the strikes.

The Punjab-born smiled back but had hardly anything to do other than hope to be back on strike. After a dot and a double to start the final over of the powerplay, Gill shimmied down the track to smash Rasikh Salam for a boundary over the mid-on region.

Watch the video here: 

Gill hammered Romario Shepherd for another boundary. It was a short ball from the pacer as his famous short-arm jab crossed the fielder and got a boundary. He welcomed Krunal Pandya’s third over with a towering six as he slog swept the left-arm spinner over the deep backward square leg region.

The right-handed batter was finally dismissed for 32 runs off 24 balls with the help of two boundaries and one six at a strike rate of 133.33.

Sudharsan’s century carries GT to 205/3 

Sudharsan was excellent from one end as he celebrated his 100-run knock in 58 balls at a strike rate of 172.41 with the help of 11 boundaries and five sixes. Meanwhile, Jos Buttler played a good hand of 25 runs in 16 balls with the help of two boundaries and one six.

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But RCB was clinical with their death bowling, drying up the runs and increasing pressure on the batters to do something out of the equation. The 2022 champions finished with 205/3 in their allotted 20 overs. 

Brief Scores (at the time of writing): GT- 205/3 (Sai Sudharsan 100*, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/31) vs RCB. 

Fans react to Kohli-Gill bond in IPL 2026

Here is how the fans have reacted to the bond between Kohli and Gill during the RCB and GT clash of the IPL 2026-