• Kohli exhibited his football skills during training session of RCB.

  • Challengers will start their IPL 13 campaign from September 21.

IPL 2020: RCB cheekily invites Lionel Messi to play football with Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli, Lionel Messi (Image Source: Twitter)

Indian cricketers and their love for football is not an alien phenomenon among the cricketing fraternity. Be it an international game or a contest in Indian Premier League (IPL), cricketers are frequently seen playing football before the start of any match.

In fact, football is considered as a regular activity of their practice and training sessions. It’s an excellent way to increase flexibility, and it also helps in team bonding.

India cricket team captain Virat Kohli belongs to the group of those players who, more often than not, share their passion for football. No wonder, he owns a team in the Indian Super League (ISL).

Kohli displayed his football skills

Currently, Kohli is in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) preparing for the 13th edition of IPL, which is scheduled to begin from September 19. During a training session, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper exhibited his football skills.

RCB’s official Twitter handle shared the picture of Kohli playing the game with his teammates. He can be seen getting himself in position to strike the football with his left foot.

While posting the picture, the Challengers came up with a funny caption mentioning star footballer Lionel Messi. RCB suggested if the Argentine needs someone like Kohli as a new teammate.

Messi has been in the headlines from the past few days after showing intentions to leave his boyhood club, Barcelona. But now, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner has reversed his decision to avoid a legal battle with the club.

RCB would look to change history in 2020

Despite having the top-quality players, RCB never won any IPL trophy in 12 years. Still, the kind of players Challengers have roped in for the 2020 edition, their probability of becoming the champion in the upcoming season can’t be ignored.

The likes of Kohli, AB de Villiers, Moeen Ali and Aaron Finch, forms a pretty strong batting unit, along with some aspiring youngsters – Devdutt Padikkal, Joshua Philippe and Shivam Dube. Further, RCB’s bowling department also looks promising.

The fast-bowling section will be managed by Dale Steyn, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini and Mohammad Siraj. At the same time, spin-attack will be handled by Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Pavan Negi and Shahbaz Ahmed.

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