Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batting juggernaut Virat Kohli, who has taken almost all the top bowlers to cleaners in IPL, has now revealed a pacer he faced difficulty dealing with. Virat Kohli is one of the rare players who's been a part of every single IPL season since it started. He was actually on the field for that very first game at the legendary Eden Gardens, when Royal Challengers Bangalore (now Bengaluru) took on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He's got vivid memories of Brendon McCullum's explosive innings, the electric energy of the Kolkata crowd, and that mix of nervousness and excitement buzzing among all the players about this brand new tournament. But recently, he shared a story from that very first IPL match that nobody's ever heard before.
Kohli, fresh off that Under-19 World Cup win and carrying the weight of everyone's expectations, steps out to bat at Eden Gardens. He's just 18 years old, trying to make his mark in this huge chase of 223 runs. But with an early wicket falling and the sheer atmosphere of the stadium hitting him, the pressure got to Kohli pretty quickly.
When Virat Kohli faced difficulty facing Ishant Sharma
During a chat on Hotstar's '18 Calling 18', Kohli remembered that it was actually Ishant Sharma, a bowler he'd faced countless times in the nets since they were both from the Delhi Ranji team, who suddenly felt like a super intimidating bowler. He said it was all because of the electrifying environment in Kolkata that day, and he really struggled against the Indian fast bowler. Kohli openly confessed he couldn't hit any of Ishant's deliveries back then.
"The interesting thing, which I've never spoken about, is that Ishant and I played all our cricket together, so I have faced him a lot. But in that game, I felt he was bowling at a different level, and that was the pressure. That is what environment means. Had I faced him in the nets, I wouldn't have been intimidated, but that day, I felt like I couldn't hit any of his deliveries, and that was because of the atmosphere and the pressure," Kohli said.
RCB superstar also mentioned that Ishant, who was riding high after that Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia where he'd become a sensation for getting Ricky Ponting out in the Perth Test, was giving him a hard time right from the get-go. Apparently, Ishant kept sledging Kohli all through that very first over he faced against the quick bowler.
"We were staying in different hotels, so there was no conversation about the game. But yes, he was sledging a lot. I mean, seriously...he just came back from Australia, had that new hairstyle, so he had that star attitude. I said, ' side mein aa mein tereko batata hu'. But all fun and games," Kohli further added.
Unfortunately for Kohli and RCB in that very first IPL match, his innings didn't last long. He was caught out by Ashok Dinda in the following over, managing to score just a single run off the five balls he faced. Ultimately, RCB ended up losing the game by a massive 140 runs.
Cut to 2025, Kohli has made a niche for himself in the world cricket and has grown into a legend of the game in his international career and his journey through the IPL. Kohli now holds the record for the most runs scored in IPL history, with a whopping 8168 runs in 256 appearances, and he's achieved all of this while playing for the same team, RCB. Talking about his performance in the ongoing IPL 2025, Kohli has been on a roll. He's already racked up 164 runs in just four matches, hitting two brilliant fifties for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Kohli's superb batting has been one of the reasons why RCB have been excelling in the ongoing IPL 2025.