Why were Kohli and Rahul involved in a heated exchange during DC vs RCB clash? Reason REVEALED

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Virat Kohli and KL Rahul

Image Credit: Twitter

Virat Kohli and KL Rahul were involved in a heated argument during the IPL 2025 clash between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday, April 27.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru secured their 7th win of the season with a six-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals. With a target of 163, RCB chased it down in 18.3 overs, with all-rounder Krunal Pandya leading the chase with a brilliant unbeaten knock of 73 off 47 balls at an impressive strike rate of 155.32. Virat Kohli has continued his fine run of form with yet another fifty of the ongoing IPL season, scoring 51 off 47 in front of his home crowd.

Earlier, Bhuvneshwar Kumar led the RCB’s bowling attack with figures of 3/33 in four overs in order to restrict DC to 162/8 in 20 overs. Josh Hazlewood picked two wickets, while Yash Dayal and Krunal Pandya scalped a wicket to ensure that Delhi Capitals could not post a higher total. DC’s batting was led by KL Rahul, who played a composed innings of 41 off 39 balls, while Tristan Stubbs and Abhishek Porel chipped in with the innings of 34 and 28, respectively.

Virat Kohli and KL Rahul heated exchange grabbed attention

During the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s run-chase, Virat Kohli had a heated argument with Delhi Capitals wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul. The incident took place in the seventh of RCB's run-chase when a visibly frustrated Kohli stormed towards Rahul, who was keeping the wickets, to have a wordy exchange.

In a video posted by Star Sports on its X handle (formerly Twitter), which later went viral on social media, the RCB star batter was talking in a visibly agitated manner to Rahul, who was left angry by Kohli’s words. After both had a heated argument, Kohli and Rahul turned away from each other, clearly upset, and continued to focus on the game.

The reason for the heated argument between Virat Kohli and KL Rahul is unclear as the mic stump did not catch the conversation between Indian teammates. However, it seemed that Kohli told Rahul it would be counterproductive for his side to use the allocated time for setting a field in order to avoid getting penalized for the slow over-rate. However, Delhi Capitals did not penalize for the slow over-rate as they did not exceed the time limit for their bowling innings.

There were differences of opinion between Virat Kohli and KL Rahul on how to manage the over-rate situation, with Kohli frustrated over what he perceived as unnecessary delays in setting the field.

What sparked the Kohli-Rahul fight?

There were speculations on social media regarding the reason for the heated argument between Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. However, former Indian spinner Piyush Chawla felt that Kohli was unhappy with Delhi Capitals’ taking a significant amount of time to set the field and complained about it to Rahul.

Chawla further stated that RCB star batter was a bit concerned about the slow over-rate penalty imposed on the Delhi Capitals if they fail to complete an innings in stipulated time. The team that maintains slow over-rate during the match is punished in two ways, one by restricting the number of fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle and other by imposing a fine on the captain.

Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bengaluru moved to the points table with seven wins and 14 points from 10 matches. Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, are at the fourth position with 6 wins and 12 points from their nine outings.