{"id":486289,"date":"2026-03-20T18:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T18:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/486289\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T18:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T18:34:11","slug":"things-will-be-little-different-for-virat-kohli-warned-before-rcbs-ipl-2026-season-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/486289\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Things will be little different for Virat&#8217;: Kohli warned before RCB&#8217;s IPL 2026 season | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/virat-kohli-bcciipl-photo.jpg\" alt=\"'Things will be little different for Virat': Kohli warned before RCB's IPL 2026 season\" title=\"Virat Kohli (BCCI\/IPL Photo) \" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>Virat Kohli (BCCI\/IPL Photo)  NEW DELHI: Former India all-rounder <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/irfan-pathan\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Irfan Pathan<\/a> believes Kohli\u2019s transition to playing fewer formats might impact his T20 rhythm, especially after breaks.\u201cThis time, things will be a little different for Kohli. For the first time, he will play the <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/ipl\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">IPL<\/a> having completely retired from Test cricket. He is playing only one format. It is not easy for anyone,&#8221; Pathan said in a video on his YouTube channel.  <\/p>\n<p> Watch<\/p>\n<p> Ajit Agarkar knocks BCCI door, makes a huge extension request | World Cup&#8221;But he has scored, and his performance has been brilliant. Even when he comes after a break, it has not been difficult for him in one-day cricket.&#8221;<a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/virat-kohli\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Virat Kohli<\/a> has joined Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of IPL 2026, but this season could be slightly different for him. With Kohli now retired from Test cricket and only playing limited formats, expectations are high, but experts feel the shift could bring new challenges in T20 cricket.\u201cIn T20S, when you play the aggressor and come in not having played a lot, it will be challenging. But he has faced many challenges before as well. I am very excited to see how he will go forward this season,&#8221; he added.Pathan also highlighted how Kohli\u2019s change in batting style last season played a big role in RCB\u2019s success. Instead of anchoring the innings, Kohli took a more attacking role, which helped the team win the title.\u201cVirat Kohli and RCB is an identity that goes together. He started with RCB and is still playing for them. He has delivered brilliant performances. It was also a golden period in his career when he captained the team; there were a lot of brilliant performances,&#8221; he noted.&#8221;When they won last season, his strike rate also went up. He did not play anchor but took the role of an aggressor. It was a very big factor. They will expect even this time that he keeps up the same form.&#8221;<a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/microsite_v2\/website-toisa,path-book_pass_2026.cms?utm_source=TOI&amp;utm_medium=Masthead_sports\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Banner Insert\" imgsize=\"23456\" resizemode=\"4\" title=\"\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdersrc=\"\" placeholdermsid=\"\" msid=\"\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/129493222.cms.jpeg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Virat Kohli (BCCI\/IPL Photo) NEW DELHI: Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes Kohli\u2019s transition to playing fewer formats&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,172404,17779,17774,37361,172403,24790,47712,101,24788,172405,56,54,55,15624],"class_list":["post-486289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-cricket-performance","tag-ipl","tag-ipl-2026","tag-irfan-pathan","tag-kohli-expectations","tag-rcb","tag-royal-challengers-bengaluru","tag-sports","tag-t20-cricket","tag-test-cricket-retirement","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-virat-kohli"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}