The IPL 2023 game on May 1 between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants got into the headlines for all sorts of wrong reasons. During the RCB vs LSG game, Virat Kohli got animated after taking Krunal Pandya’s catch after which fans have decoded his cryptic celebration in front of the Lucknow crowd.
Virat Kohli took two catches in the power play as the LSG side was pushed on the backfoot by his side RCB. He did not hide his emotions at all and had some fun interactions with the crowd. Even though RCB was the away team, there was significant support for them in the stadium, with Virat being the fan favorite like he is in almost every stadium.
Virat Kohli blows flying kisses to Lucknow Spectators after getting huge support from them during RCB vs LSG clash
On the third delivery of the fourth over LSG stand-in captain Krunal Pandya hit a Glenn Maxwell delivery towards long-off. Virat was positioned at the long-off boundary and had to run to his right before making the catch look pretty simple.
After taking the catch on the boundary line, Kohli was spotted blowing flying kisses to the Lucknow crowd and pointed towards the RCB badge and asked the crowd to cheer for them. He then went on to do the ‘finger on the lip’ celebration.
https://twitter.com/RoshanKrRaii/status/1653093041593516033
It is not clear if Virat’s gestures were motivated by any comment from a spectator or it was just a fitting response to LSG team mentor Gautam Gambhir who had made the same gesture at the Chinnaswamy crowd during the RCB vs LSG game on April 11.
However, as per the cricket fans Virat’s gesture was to appreciate the support he got and not to silence the crowd. One of the fan decoded the gestures made by Virat Kohli after taking Krunal Pandya’s catch as he wrote, “I won’t shut you guys like Gambhir, I love the crowd”
"I won't shut you guys like he (gambhir) did in chinnaswamy, I love the crowd " this is actually what Virat Kohli means here! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Nsc0pOKp4h
— × (@Sobuujj) May 1, 2023
Virat Kohli then took another catch, which saw Ayush Badoni’s innings come to an end. The star RCB batter once again blew a flying kiss as he urged the Lucknow crowd to keep going and get even louder.
Royal Challengers Bangalore eventually won the game as the LSG side got bowled out after scoring just 108 runs. Skipper Faf du Plessis was declared as the player of the match for his crucial knock of 44 runs on a wicket that had immense help for the spin bowlers.
