Kohli as captain, Du Plessis as 'Impact Player' - here's how Internet reacted

Virat Kohli (Pic: AFP)

The Royal Challengers Bangalore loyalists were taken aback after Virat Kohli stepped in to lead his side after 555 days when the side squared up against resurgent Punajb Kings in what made up for an exciting first match of the day. The former skipper, who had quit captaincy after the 2021 season, stepped in for Faf du Plessis who had picked up an injury in the last game.

"Faf potentially can't be fielding today, so he'll be playing as an impact player, switching with Vyshak," Kohli said at the toss. "We got to do what we wanted, we would have batted first, the pitch could get slow, some scruff marks will help the bowlers going deep into the game. Taking one game at a time, focussing on our own game, make the most of crunch situations, we haven't done that so far in the tournament."

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The atmosphere was electric as the chants of 'Kohli...Kohli...Kohli' echoed through the stadium. The anticipation was palpable as everyone waited with bated breath to see their 'King' in action. Meanwhile, others took to Twitter to celebrate the return of Kohli as RCB captain. Check reactions below.

Coming to the match, 'Impact Player' Du Plessis plundered 84 off 56 balls despite a rib injury and shared a 137-run stand with opening partner Kohli before Mohammed Siraj produced his best IPL figures to set up a 24-run win for RCB on Thursday. Siraj 'Miya' was too hot to handle in the PowerPlay as he got rid of left-hander Atharva Taide with a sharp inswinger off the second ball of the innings before removing the dangerous Liam Livingstone in the fourth over.

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Wanindu Hasaranga shortly joined the forces as he castled Matthew Short with a googly before run-outs of Sam Curran and Harpreet Bhatia made matters worse for the home team. At 97 for six, the game looked done and dusted but Jitesh Sharma kept Punjab in the game with some clean hitting, especially down the ground, but ran out of partners eventually. Kohli hammered a 47-ball-59 though the first half of his innings was more fluent. It was fourth fifty plus score for the RCB openers this season, highlighting their consistency throughout the tournament thus far.

(With PTI inputs)