Royal Challengers Bangalore and Virat Kohli are two names that have become synonymous with each other. The former India captain remains the only player that has played for a single franchise since the inaugural season of the competition in 2008. He even captained the side, playing many a superb knocks while being at the helm of affairs. However, he couldn't lead the team to a title and decided to step down after the conclusion of IPL 2021.

In IPL 2022, it was Faf du Plessis who was appointed the new skipper of the team and the franchise did well in his first stint as the skipper, reaching the Playoffs and winning the Elimiantor but lost the Qualifier 2. In IPL 2023 too, Bangalore started off with a win against Mumbai Indians but then went off radar a bit winning two and losing three of their five matches.

In Bangalore's sixth game, the PBKS vs RCB encounter in Mohali fans were in for a bit of a surprise when Kohli walked out for the toss instead of Du Plessis. When asked about the reasoning, Kohli informed that the South African will only be available as a batter due to a rib injury and hence it would be himself who will be the leading the team in this fixture.

"Faf potentially can't be fielding today, so he'll be playing as a impact player, switching with Vyshak. We got to do what we wanted, we would have batted first, the pitch could get slow, some scruff marks will help the bowlers going deep into the game. Taking one game at a time, focussing on our own game, make the most of crunch situations, we haven't done that so far in the tournament. No other changes for us," Kohli said at the toss.

Notably, Punjab are also without their regular captain Shikhar Dhawan and it is Sam Curran who is leading the side in the absence of the senior player who is nursing an injury.