New Delhi, March 22 – Virat Kohli, India's batting legend, has dismissed "false reports" claiming that he demanded a chartered flight for his travel from India to London and also wants to fly back home between matches during the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL).
The report, shared by an Instagram account called 'worldinlast24hrs', suggested that Kohli had reportedly requested Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) management for access to a chartered flight between India and London, and also stated that he wants to fly to the UK whenever there's more than a three-day gap between two games and return just before the next match.
However, the former RCB captain refuted the report, sharing a screenshot of the now-deleted post on his Instagram story, along with "laughing out loud" emojis.
Later, the Instagram account shared that their account had been hacked after Kohli's reaction to their post. "Our account was hacked after Virat Kohli's story," along with a screenshot of their analytics.
Earlier, Kohli addressed a small group, mainly consisting of Indian players, during the team's first training session, encouraging them to perform at their best in the coming weeks. "We worked really hard over the last two to three seasons to achieve what we did last year, and it's only going to get tougher because other teams are going to come hard at us," Kohli told his teammates.
Head coach Andy Flower had earlier welcomed the new players to the squad before Virat Kohli gave them a motivational talk in the first training session.
The former India captain, who ranks high on the all-time scorers' list in the IPL, emphasised urgency from day one, "We don't waste these days. We stay ahead. So, switch on now. Let's not waste even a minute of any session that we are a part of. We must give our 120 per cent for these two and a half months."