India, March 28 -- Virat Kohli struggled to get going throughout his innings during Royal Challengers Bengaluru's match against Chennai Super Kings on Friday. The RCB great, who came off a brilliant unbeaten 59 in the side's opening-day victory in IPL 2025 against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders, was restricted by CSK bowlers in Chennai; the batter could muster only 31 off 30 deliveries before being dismissed by Noor Ahmad.

Kohli's innings against CSK was a rare struggle; from the outset, he found it difficult to time the ball, mistiming pulls, mistreating yorkers, and even taking a sharp blow to the helmet off a fiery bouncer from Matheesha Pathirana. A scratchy start saw Kohli survive a close run-out attempt and edge past mul...