Virat Kohli’s flying-kiss gesture after nailing mind-boggling direct throw to dismiss Shahrukh Khan in RCB vs GT

It happened in the 13th over of Gujarat’s batting innings when Rahul Tewatia fended the length ball from Vijaykumar Vyshak as the ball rolled out of the pitch towards the off side. Shahrukh, by then, had already taken off for a risky single before Tewatia sent him back. But Kohli was just too quick to beat the GT batter as he raced towards the ball, picked it up and nailed a direct throw at the bowler’s end. Shahrukh was well short of the crease as GT lost their fifth wicket for only 87 runs.

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Cameron Green, who stood diagonally opposite to Kohli, was mighty impressed with the attempted direct throw. The former RCB captain later made a flying-kiss gesture after the dismissal, although it is not known whether it was directed towards his wife Anushka Sharma, who was present at the stands, or was it a send-off for Shahrukh, who could meanwhile land him in trouble as it could be seen as a breach of IPL Code of Conduct.

Gujarat batters apparently struggled in the Chinnaswamy track on Saturday, against the accurate RCB bowlers as they only labored to a modest 147 all out. There were a few of good partnerships – 61 between David Miller and Shahrukh and 44 by Tewatia and Rashid Khan – but the visitors lacked that one big partnership that could have given them a firmer grip on the match, especially after being reduced to their lowest every powerplay score in IPL so far with the top order being undone by RCB fast bowlers, Mohammed Siraj (2/29) and Yash Dayal (2/21) who stuck to a wonderful length on a pitch that offered good carry and bounce.