Virat Kohli slapped with ₹24 lakh fine by IPL, rest of RCB squad also punished after 7-run win over RR
Royal Challengers Bangalore may have recorded a crucial win over high-flying Rajasthan Royals and thus got a second victory in a row under their belts but the whole team have copped fines after the game. Chief of which is Virat Kohli, who was named captain of the team for the match.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) said in a statement that Kohli has been fined ₹24 lakh for RCB’s slow over-rate during the RR innings while each member of the rest of the team has copped lesser fines.
“Royal Challengers Bangalore, who had named Virat Kohli as their Captain for their game against Rajasthan Royals, has been fined after his team maintained a slow over-rate during their Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Rajasthan Royals at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on April 23, 2023,” said the league in its statement.
“As it was his team’s second offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Kohli has been fined Rs. 24 lakh and each member of the Playing XI, including the impact substitute, is fined Rs. 6 lakh or 25 percent of the match fee, whichever is lesser,” it further said.
RCB were allowed to place only four fielders outside the 30-yard circle for the last over of the RR innings as they were behind the over-rate. RR needed 33 to win off the last two overs. Mohammed Siraj gave away 13 runs, chiefly due to a six that Dhruv Jurel hit off the second last ball of the over, which left RCB to defend 20 runs in the final over. Harshal Patel bowled it and RR could only take 12 in it, thus handing RCB a seven-run win.
Kohli has been captaining the team in their last two matches due to regular skipper Faf du Plessis being taken off the field after he is done batting due to an injury. Du Plessis has been unfit to field because of a grade-one intercostal strain. RCB’s first over-rate offence came in their one-wicket defeat at home to Lucknow Super Giants on April 10 at home. Du Plessis was captain at the time and copped a fine of ₹12 lakh as this was only their first offence.
Du Plessis’s form with the bat has not been affected by his injury. As in the game against RR, the former South Africa captain was replaced by an impact player after RCB’s innings. He was the highest scorer, having smashed 84 runs in 56 balls and led RCB to a score of 174/4. RCB won the match by 24 runs. Against RR, Du Plessis scored 62 off 39 balls while Glenn Maxwell made 77 off 44. The pair shared a 127-run stand off just 66 balls for the third wicket and RCB posted a score of 189/9. For RR, Devdutt Padikkal scored a half-century while Dhruv Jurel led a late fight with an unbeaten 32 off 16 balls but they could only get to 182/6.