On Saturday, March 22, at the Eden Gardens, the Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru played their first match of the 2025 Indian Premier League when a pitch invasion stopped play. Virat Kohli achieved his half-century in the 13th over of the RCB’s run-chase, which is when the event happened.
When Virat Kohli concluded his celebration, the spectator went onto the pitch and collapsed to the feet of the star batsman, utterly amazed by the cricket legend. For a few minutes, the game had to be stopped. Later, the passionate fan was removed from the pitch by the ground’s security personnel.
It’s interesting to note that this was not the first time that Virat Kohli had to endure this while batting.
An Australian player wearing a white T-shirt and red shorts broke through security during the 2023 Cricket World Cup final and ran to embrace Kohli. The intruder was quickly captured by the Narendra Modi Stadium authorities.
Watch the video below:
#KKRvsRCB #IPL2025
A fan breached the field and touched Virat Kohli’s feetpic.twitter.com/Ck70YHyas8— BOBjr (@superking1816) March 22, 2025
With 22 deliveries remaining, Kohli’s 56th half-century handed RCB a commanding seven-wicket victory. Phil Salt gave him excellent support at the beginning of the innings with a blazing knock. The fast-paced 95-run partnership created the groundwork for Kohli and Rajat Patidar, the captain at the time, to destroy the unfortunate hosts’ bowling order. Economic data were only reflected by Sunil Narine, who had previously made an impression with a fiery 44.
When it comes to the first innings, the RCB bowlers had a mixed performance. When their innings was halfway through, KKR was 107/2. The Patidar-led team, however, became the overwhelming force in the second part of KKR’s innings. In the end, Krunal Pandya took three wickets, giving up just 29 runs in his four overs after giving up 15 in his first over. Additionally, Josh Hazlewood was quite excellent. After four overs, the pacer from Australia’s statistics were 2/22.
India
