The camaraderie between Virat Kohli and KL Rahul is well known in the cricketing circles. It was under Kohli's tutelage at the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) camp that Rahul established himself as an exciting young batsman. It was also at the behest of Kohli that Rahul eventually earned his national call-up. And, it was also Kohli who helped Rahul overcome depression after his failure on Test debut.

Thus, on September 24, when Kohli and Rahul came face-to-face in what promised to be a pulsating clash between RCB and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), all eyes were on the Indian duo who were expected to put their friendship aside and ruffle each other's feathers in a bid to seal crucial points.

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With just 24 balls left in their innings, Punjab needed a boost and RCB knew they had to take wickets. But, RCB erred and Rahul made the most of it. Kohli, first, dropped Rahul at deep midwicket in the 17th over before making a mess of another catch at long-off in the very next over. To sum up Kohli's mistakes, Rahul scored 48 runs off 13 balls after the first drop and 42 off nine deliveries after the second catch drop.

virat kohli should get MoM award for dropping 2 catches and gifted 50 runs for rahul....

 In the bigger scheme of things, Punjab scored all-important 60 runs in the last three overs, with as many as 49 runs coming off the last 12 deliveries. In general, Rahul helped Punjab in amassing a staggering 74 runs in the last four overs which is 10 runs more than ever being recorded in the last four overs of a T20 game in Dubai.

For someone who values fitness and has often stressed on the need of improved fielding standards, Kohli did his reputation no good as his team undeniably paid the price of his consistent lapse in concentration. Needless to say if Kohli had not dropped Rahul twice, things would have surely been a bit different, if not entirely.  

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