Virat Kohli during a practice session in Bengaluru on Wednesday. PTIBengaluru: Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli will return when they take on arch-rivals Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League here on Friday.
Kohli had to undergo rehabilitation after sustaining an injury to his right shoulder while fielding during the third Test against Australia in Ranchi and he has been missing in action ever since.
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However, the Delhi batsman was declared fit on Thursday by the BCCI medical team and will look to boost the confidence of RCB, who have lost two out of the three matches that they have played so far.
Kohli, who had dropped hints of making a return after posting a video on his Instagram account of his gym session on Tuesday, did some fielding drills during the team's net session, on Wednesday.
Last year, Kohli had scored a staggering 973 runs in 16 matches with four centuries to guide RCB to the final against Sunrisers Hyderabad and he would look to improve Bangalore's current sixth place standing on the points-table.
In Kohli's absence, AB de Villiers made his presence felt as he smashed his way to an unbeaten 89 off just 46 balls to help RCB post a respectable 148/4 on his comeback match after recovering from an injury. The single-handed show by the South African, however, couldn't save RCB's blushes as they went down by eight wickets to Kings XI Punjab in their last match.
The poor form of Chris Gayle is also a concern for RCB. The West Indian power-hitter has been struggling to carve out big scores, which is reflected in his failure to score even one half-century in his last 10 innings.
Gayle will be hoping to make a comeback in the team, especially after being dropped in the game against Punjab.
Kedar Jadhav, meanwhile, has showcased his utility by slamming a 37-ball 69 to help his side score a 15-run win over Delhi Daredevils. He also hit 31 in the opening match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Among bowlers, seamer Billy Stanlake, spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Pawan Negi have been among wickets.
Mumbai, on the other hand, so far have two wins and a loss in the tournament to be placed in third spot.
Mumbai dominated with both bat and ball to defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad by four wickets on Wednesday. Mumbai restricted SRH to 158/8 in 20 overs and then achieved the target in 18.4 overs losing six wickets along the way.
Nitish Rana has been the most successful batsmen for Mumbai with scores of 34, 50, 45 in the last three matches.
The top order has been among the runs with openers Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler giving Mumbai good starts.
Hardik Padhya delivered in first two matches with the bat while brother Krunal was in business with the ball against KKR and Hyderabad.
Among bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga and Mitchell McClenaghan were among the wickets in last match.
The teams: Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Parthiv Patel (wk), Kieron Pollard, Tim Southee, Jos Buttler (wk), Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nitish Rana, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya,Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Johnson, Lendl Simmons, Vinay Kumar, Saurabh Tiwary, Karn Sharma, Krishnappa Gowtham, Siddhesh Lad, Nicholas Pooran, Shreyas Gopal, Jitesh Sharma, Deepak Punia, Jagadeesha Suchith, Kulwant Khejroliya
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Shane Watson (capt), Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav (wk), Travis Head, Sachin Baby, Stuart Binny, Tymal Mills, Sreenath Aravind, Aniket Choudhary, Yuzvendra Chahal, Pawan Negi, Harshal Patel, Adam Milne, Iqbal Abdulla, Samuel Badree, Avesh Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi, Praveen Dubey, Billy Stanlake.
