Virat Kohli's gesture towards debutant Musheer Khan went viral on social media during Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) eight-wicket victory over Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the first qualifier of the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh on Thursday (May 29).

Musheer, who had not played any match in the 2025 IPL, was introduced by PBKS as an impact sub in the 9th over following Rajat Patidar winning the toss and choosing to bowl first. The Shreyas Iyer-led side lost six wickets with just 60 runs on the board and sent Musheer, who was not only making his IPL debut also playing an official T20 game for the first time in his career.

As Musheer walked out to bat following Shashank Singh's dismissal on Suyash Sharma's bowling, Kohli was evidently surprised to see the 20-year-old crease. The RCB's legend's gesture went viral on social media, with many claiming that Kohli was pointing out that he was a waterboy for the team. While Kohli's actions were visible, his words were not clearly audible on the stump-mi,c but the ex-RCB captain was seemingly pointing out that Musheer had walked out with the drinks only a few minutes earlier for PBKS players before being suddenly asked to make his debut and bat.

PBKS' bold move to send Musheer as an impact sub in a late change of plans backfired as he stayed on the crease for just three runs and did not make a single run. The youngster was trapped in front of the stumps by Suyash.

Later, he also bowled two overs of left-arm spin and gave away 27 runs, but got his first-ever IPL and T20 wicket by dismissing Mayank Agarwal.

Earlier in the season, Kohli gifted Musheer his bat after a league stage game between the two sides. The PBKS star had revealed he was left in tears after receiving the gift. It is worth noting that Musheer is Sarfaraz Khan's younger brother. Kohli and Sarfaraz have shared the dressing room for both RCB and Team India.

"Maine rona shuru kardiya jaise hi unhone bat diya (I started crying when he(Kohli) gave me the bat). "I told bhaiyya (Virat Kohli), I have scored a lot of runs from your bat. Sarfaraz bhai always used to give me your gifted bats)," said Musheer in a vide posted by Punjab Kings.

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