IPL 2017: Good news for RCB as Virat Kohli announces his return date

Bengaluru, April 11: There is good news for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and their fans. Captain Virat Kohli has announced his date of return to action in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017.

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Kohli, who is recovering from shoulder injury, has not yet played in this season of IPL. Without him, Bangalore won one game and lost two including last night's (April 10) 8-wicket thrashing from Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in Indore. (De Villiers inspired by a phone call)

File photo: RCB captain Virat Kohli is set to play in IPL 2017

Bangalore are clearly missing their inspirational leader Kohli and his batting. In his absence, Australian all-rounder Shane Watson is leading the side. (Points Table)

With Bangalore set to play their second home game on Friday (April 14) at 4 PM IST, Kohli has almost declared himself fit. Bangalore will face Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians (MI) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

On Tuesday afternoon (April 11), Kohli took to "Instagram" to post a brief video of his weight training and announced that he is "almost there now". The video had already been viewed more than 2 lakh times, at the time of writing this article.

In the video, he is seen lifting weights, indicating that his shoulder is perfect. "Can't wait to get back onto the field. Almost there now 💪✌️😃. 14th April," Kohli wrote.

<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="7" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BSvSvtXgloY/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Can't wait to get back onto the field. Almost there now 💪✌️😃. 14th April ⏳</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by Virat Kohli (@virat.kohli) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2017-04-11T08:49:27+00:00">Apr 11, 2017 at 1:49am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>

The date - April 14 is the match day (3 days from today) and Kohli has given a hint that he is set to play. However, earlier he had said that he will not return to action unless he is "120 per cent fit".

"I don't want to take any chances with Champions Trophy (in June) coming up. I want to be 120% fit," Kohli had said in Hyderabad on April 5, the opening day of IPL 2017.

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