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Kohli refuses handshake with Head after heated verbal spat during IPL clash
Item 1 of 2 Cricket - Indian Premier League - IPL - Sunrisers Hyderabad v Royal Challengers Bengaluru - Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad, India - May 22, 2026 Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Virat Kohli in action REUTERS/Stringer[1/2]Cricket - Indian Premier League - IPL - Sunrisers Hyderabad v Royal Challengers Bengaluru - Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad, India - May 22, 2026 Royal Challengers Bengaluru's... Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read moreMay 23 (Reuters) - Tempers flared between Virat Kohli and Travis Head in the Indian Premier League, as the former Indian captain refused to shake hands with the Australian batter after Head's Sunrisers Hyderabad handed Kohli's Royal Challengers Bengaluru a crushing 55-run defeat.The two exchanged heated words when Kohli opened for Bengaluru, looking to chase down a daunting target of 256. During the exchange, a visibly angry Kohli was seen gesturing towards Head to come and bowl. Sign up here.Kohli also mockingly made the "impact player" substitution gesture, a reference to Head, who is primarily a batter, often being replaced by Hyderabad for a specialist bowler after the Australian finishes batting.Head did not have much time to take Kohli up on his invite, as the Bengaluru opener fell soon after, scoring 15 off 11 balls. The Australian, however, bowled an over later in the game and dismissed Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar.As the teams lined up to shake hands after the match, Head held out his hand but Kohli looked straight ahead and walked past him.Friday's win left third-placed Hyderabad on equal points with Bengaluru, but Kohli's side remained top of the table with a superior net run rate. Both teams have qualified for the IPL playoffs starting Wednesday.Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Virat Kohli refuses handshake with Travis Head after on-field exchange in Hyderabad | WATCH | Cricket - India TV News
New Delhi: Virat Kohli avoided a handshake with Australian cricketer Travis Head after Sunrisers Hyderabad's win over the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League 2026 on Friday, May 22. Kohli and Head were involved in an earlier banter, and things escalated after the game as SRH went on to win it at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. The tensions escalated after the game when players from both teams converged to shake hands. Kohli was leading RCB's team out from the dugout as SRH skipper Pat Cummins took his team to the customary handshakes. The Indian star greeted Cummins and Abhishek Sharma before ignoring Head and went on to shake hands with the other SRH players. Head offered his hand, waited for a brief moment for Kohli, but the RCB batter just went ahead to greet Ishan Kishan next before meeting the other players. The video of the incident went viral on social media. Watch the Video here: Why the handshake controversy? The handshake controversy stemmed from an earlier banter between the two players. Kohli was batting in the middle when he had a brief verbal exchange with Head. The incident took place in the first over of RCB's chase of 256. Kohli was seen gesturing for Head to come to bowl as Shivang Kumar took a beating as he conceded 14 runs from the opening over. Kohli signalled the impact sub gesture, emphasising that he used to get substituted when SRH bowl. Head was seen nodding to Kohli's comments. Earlier, in the first innings too, Kohli was seen celebrating animatedly when Head got out. The RCB batter yelled from his fielding position as Rasikh Dar Salam cleaned him up with a brilliant yorker. SRH beat RCB but fail to confirm top two SRH won the match by 55 runs after restricting RCB to 200/4 in their last league stage match of the tournament. The Sunrisers needed to win by 90 runs after posting 255/4 in Hyderabad to take their NRR ahead of the RCB and push them to third place. However, while the SRH won the match, they could not do enough to confirm their spot in the top two. RCB will finish at the top of the points table, while GT are second as the two will meet in Qualifier 1 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala, on May 26. ALSO READ | RCB suffer embarrassing defeat to Hyderabad in IPL 2026, yet seal spot in top two spot alongside GT Read all the Breaking News Live on indiatvnews.com and Get Latest English News & Updates from Sports and Cricket Section
Watch: Kohli refuses handshake with Head — SRH vs RCB IPL 2026
Just after the end of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash between the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, a video went viral on the social media which showed that Virat Kohli refused to shake hands with Travis Head. The fans were stunned at the vision which showed Kohli not put his attention on Head as they were lined up after the end of the game in the customary handshake moment. Both the star batters were in a war of words during the second innings. Kohli vs Head: What sparked the on-field war of words — and why Kohli walked away at handshake It all started in the first innings when Virat Kohli celebrated on the face of Head after the latter was dismissed for 26 runs off 16 balls at a strike rate of 162.50, with the help of five boundaries. During the chase of the Bengaluru franchise, Kohli got a boundary off his bat’s edge. Travis Head was standing at the cover region at that moment and signaled that the ball had been coming off the Delhi-batter’s edge and not from the middle of the bat, and Kohli didn’t like that part at all. See Also: Watch: Virat Kohli and Travis Head engaged in heated altercation in SRH vs RCB IPL 2026 — What really happened on the field? When the defending champions’ batters smashed three sixes and one boundary in the third over of the second innings against the left-arm wrist spinner, Shivang Kumar, Kohli asked Head to come and roll his hands a bit. The former RCB batter was soon dismissed for 15 runs off 11 balls at a strike rate of 136.36. After the end of the game, Head tried to shake hands with Kohli, and once he realized there was no interest from the other end, he also moved forward. Ishan Kishan’s 79 and Klassen’s blitz, 55-run win —But RCB still finish top of table as SRH head to Eliminator The Sunrisers posted a huge score of 255 runs for the loss of four wickets in their allotted 20 overs as their three of the top four batters celebrated their respective half-centuries. Abhishek Sharma drilled 56 runs off 22 balls while Ishan Kishan clubbed 79 runs in just 46 balls. Bengaluru, despite making a strong start inside the powerplay, wasn’t able to complete the chase and fell short of the target by 55 runs. Their captain, India’s Rajat Patidar, clubbed a fine knock of 56 runs on his return from injury. See Also: Watch: Virat Kohli launches a wristy extra cover six off Azmatullah Omarzai to announce himself at Dharamsala Despite the ...
No handshake! Virat Kohli completely ignores Travis Head after RCB vs SRH IPL 2026 game - Watch | Cricket News - The Times of India
Virat Kohli completely ignores Travis Head (ANI Photo)NEW DELHI: Virat Kohli grabbed attention after Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL 2026 clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad, not just for the match but also for a tense moment with Travis Head.During RCB’s chase of a huge 256-run target, the two exchanged words on the field. Kohli reacted to a comment from Head by saying, “Okay come down and bowl some deliveries.”After Kohli got out soon after, Head replied, “Mate, you got out before I even came on to bowl,” which appeared to upset the RCB star even more.The drama continued after the match during the usual handshake line.Head tried to shake hands with Kohli, but the former RCB captain walked past him without responding. Kohli did shake hands with other SRH players, including captain Pat Cummins, making the moment even more noticeable.Watch:Despite losing by 55 runs, RCB still finished at the top of the IPL league table because they crossed the important 166-run mark during the chase.SRH had earlier smashed 255/4 thanks to explosive knocks from Abhishek Sharma (56 off 22), Ishan Kishan (79 off 44), and Heinrich Klaasen (51 off 24). Klaasen especially dominated the bowling, taking apart Josh Hazlewood in one brutal over.RCB never looked close to winning the chase. Virat Kohli scored just 15, while Devdutt Padikkal also fell cheaply. However, Rajat Patidar’s 56 and Krunal Pandya’s unbeaten 41 helped RCB reach the score they needed to secure a top-two finish and two chances to qualify for the final.SRH’s batting was aggressive from the start. Abhishek Sharma attacked Bhuvneshwar Kumar early, while Kishan mixed smart placement with fearless hitting. Klaasen then added more destruction with his powerful shots, and Nitish Reddy’s late cameo pushed SRH beyond 250.SRH earned a huge win, but RCB still walked away satisfied after securing the top spot in the standings.PollWhat should RCB focus on for future matches?Strengthening their batting orderImproving bowling strategy
