"Hi Skipper. Long time, no see"- Fans erupt as Virat Kohli leads RCB in absence of Faf du Plessis in IPL 2023 clash vs PBKS

Virat Kohli has been named the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper for their IPL 2023 match against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Thursday, April 20, in Mohali. Regular captain Faf du Plessis suffered an injury during RCB's previous match against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), which forced the team management to hand over the reins to Kohli for this match.

This is the first time that Kohli is leading the franchise since relinquishing captaincy after the IPL 2021 season.

Punjab Kings captain Sam Curran won the toss and opted to field first in the contest. Shikhar Dhawan continues to miss out as he is yet to regain full fitness. Liam Livingstone has been drafted into the PBKS playing XI for his first outing this season.

Here are the playing XIs:

Punjab Kings: Atharva Taide, Matthew Short, Harpreet Bhatia, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh.

Impact subs for PBKS: Prabhsimran Singh, Sikandar Raza, Mohit Rathee, Rishi Dhawan, Shivam Singh.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Faf du Plessis, Suyash Prabhudessai, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Wayne Parnell, Mohammed Siraj.

Impact subs for RCB: Vyshak Vijaykumar, David Willey, Akash Deep, Karn Sharma, Anuj Rawat.

Fans were happy to welcome back Kohli as RCB captain for the game and took to social media to express their delight.

Here are some of the best reactions from Twitter:

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"Faf potentially cannot field because of his rib, so he will be our impact sub"- Virat Kohli

Speaking after losing the toss, Virat Kohli said that Faf du Plessis will not be able to field in this game due to the rib injury he suffered in RCB's previous outing against CSK.

He stated that du Plessis will play as an Impact substitute in this game and will be switched with bowler Vyshak Vijaykumar later.

Kohli said:

"Faf potentially cannot field because of his rib, so he will be our impact sub. We got what we wanted. We want to bat first, it looks like a brilliant track to bat on. We want to put runs on the board. There's no reason (for losses). We just haven't capitalized on the tough moments.

He added:

"You can't look at the table 5 games into the tournament with so many teams stuck level on points. It's about taking one game at a time and focusing on the process. We want to take the game by the scruff of the neck. We haven't done that in the tough games, and it's a good learning so early in the tournament. Faf will play the impact role and will switch with Vijaykumar."

RCB are currently eighth in the standings after winning two of their opening five matches. Meanwhile, the Punjab Kings are fifth with three wins from their five games so far.