Kohli raises hopes of his return

There were encouraging signs for the Royal Challengers Bangalore as skipper Virat Kohli went through in an extensive training session without any obvious discomfort at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, two days ahead of his side’s Indian Premier League clash with the Mumbai Indians.

Kohli, who was in a jovial mood for a large part of the session, was made to grind it out in the field before he hit the nets. The right-hander, recovering from an injury to his right shoulder that he picked up during the third Test against Australia, looked all at ease as he took on the likes of S Arvind and other pacers.

After a 45-minute-long session against the quicks, Kohli chanced his arm against the tweakers with Yuzvendra Chahal trying to outfox the 28-year-old.

The Indian captain was also at his competitive best, displaying sheer disappointment every time he played and missed or was dismissed.

Kohli then decided to go big as he had the nets removed and decided to deposit a few balls into the stands, with a handfull of autograph and selfie seekers cheering each of his shots.
The Bengaluru outfit have endured two losses in three matches and desperately wait for an early return of their talismanic leader.

Kohli had raised hopes of his comeback with a tweet and a video of him training in the gym on Tuesday and the Indian skipper’s active participation in Wednesday’s training further fuelled his chances of playing Challenger’s next game against Mumbai here on Friday.