Royal Challengers Bengaluru youngster Swastik Chikara once again showed his admiration for senior batter Virat Kohli after their team registered a big win over Lucknow Super Giants to ensure a top 2 finish in the points table. Chikara, a young Uttar Pradesh batter, was signed by RCB for INR 30 lakh in the IPL mega auction, but he is yet to make his debut. However, he has garnered fans’ attention this year with RCB social media handles often displaying his admiration for Kohli.
Swastik has often spoken about how much he’s learned from Kohli’s discipline, work ethic, and intensity. The young batter always refers to the former RCB skipper as his elder brother.
After the RCB’s emphatic win over LSG, Chikara approached Kohli in the team dressing room and took a selfie with him. The moment was captured by the RCB social media team as they shared a video on X. After clicking photo, Kohli turned around and said, “Dimaag khaata rehta hai hamesha” (he keeps annoying me).
Meanwhile, Chikara showed the selfie he clicked with Kohli in the next frame. Kohli’s playful remark didn’t stop the youngster from proudly holding up the picture for the camera.
“Bade bhai hai hamara. Jab mann kare, tab photo le dete hain” (He’s my elder brother. Let’s me click a picture with him whenever I want to).” Chikara said in the video.
Virat Kohli stars in RCB’s journey to playoffs
Kohli has already scored eight half-century in IPL this season and scored over 600 runs, and remains a strong contender in the Orange Cap race, currently holding the fifth spot on the leaderboard.
The 36-year-old recently retired from Test cricket, while he hung up his boots from T20Is last year, but he still remains one of the strongest pillars of IPL, and he continues to rule the scoring charts with his consistent performances.
Fresh off a breathtaking 228-run chase against LSG, Rajat Patidar and Co. are brimming with momentum as they gear up to face table-toppers Punjab Kings in a high-stakes showdown on Thursday in Mullanpur. The stakes couldn’t be higher—victory will catapult them straight into final in Ahmedabad on June 3. But even if RCB stumble, all is not lost. They’ll have one more shot at glory in Qualifier 2, where they’ll clash with the winner of the eliminator between Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians.