Virat Kohli reveals fitness struggles after match-winning knock against LSG

Virat Kohli has confirmed that he is "still not 100%" in terms of fitness, despite scoring a 34-ball 49 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in match 23 of IPL 2026, laced with six fours and a maximum at a strike rate of 144.11.

Virat revealed that his knee was quite sore during RCB's game against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede on April 12. He even sought treatment during the 10th over of RCB's innings and didn't take the field when Mumbai came out to bat. He also divulged that he was "under the weather for four or five days" and was gradually getting back to his supreme best. For the unversed, Virat came out to bat as an Impact Player for the first time in his IPL career on April 15 against LSG.

"Yeah, [I'm feeling] much, much better than the last game," Kohli said while receiving the Orange Cap after the end of the RCB vs LSG game on Wednesday. "I'm still not 100%. My knee was a bit sore last game. Even health-wise, I've been under the weather for four or five days now. So yeah, just getting back up to my best."

RCB lost Phil Salt with just nine runs on the board, but Virat stitched a 57-run stand with Devdutt Padikkal to steady the ship and got the hosts closer to their target of 147. Virat was the third wicket to fall when RCB's score was 86 in 10.1 overs, and the former captain regretted not finishing the game for his side.

"I started off well today, so I was happy with my intensity. Then again, would have liked to carry on and finish the game off," Kohli said. "Sometimes you have to take the conditions into account as well, the pitch slowed down considerably, and I just wanted to probably keep going in the same manner, but yeah, in the end should have probably finished that one off as well."

Kohli, who is now leading the Orange Cap charts, said that the pitch was slower than what a normal M Chinnaswamy surface behaves, and hence it was important to take the game away from the opposition in the powerplay itself, and he took the initiative.

"Yeah, it was slower than normal," he said. "If you saw, there was not enough grass on it. The last three or four days have been very, very hot. It's been very dry as well, so we thought it's going to be a dry, slow wicket rather than one of those bare ones that are tacky, when we play in Chinnaswamy.

"So it was different, and hence the idea was to push the game away from the opposition and take the game away from them in the first five-six overs, and for those reasons the powerplay batting was important and hence I say that I was happy with my approach today. I was able to put the team in front early on."