Bengaluru, March 29 -- Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach Sanjay Bangar said that Virat Kohli's slower start during his match-defining, unbeaten 38-ball 69 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Saturday was intentional, according to ESPNcricinfo.

Notably, RCB, while chasing SRH's 202-run target in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season opener, got off to a blazing start. They were at 51/1 in just four overs. However, most of those runs came from Devdutt Padikkal's bat as he had scored 34 off 11 balls by then. Kohli, on the other hand, had just scored seven runs off six balls.

As Devdutt Padikkal continued his explosive knock of 61 runs off just 26 balls, it also gave Virat Kohli the time to settle in and find his rh...