Virat Kohli batted out the innings for Royal Challengers Bengaluru with his second straight Indian Premier League half-century on Friday but Kolkata Knight Riders still cruised to a seven-wicket victory.

Australia have released details of their schedule for their upcoming home summer, which includes the visit of Pakistan for six white-ball contests and the eagerly awaited Test series against India.

"I know my name is just attached to promoting the game in many parts of the world when it comes to T20 cricket, but still got it I guess," Kohli told presenter Harsha Bhogle after being named man of the match.

Kohli now joins West Indies’ Chris Gayle and Australia’s David Warner in this prestigious club.  

The 17th edition of the world's richest cricket league is expected to end close to the June 1 start of the World Cup in the West Indies and United States.

The India batting stalwart made a heartfelt plea to the fans during the high-profile RCB Unbox event ahead of IPL 2024 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday, where RCB was rechristened as Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Pandya has been out of action since last October after suffering an ankle injury during a 50-overs World Cup match in Pune.

Babar achieved the feat in 271 innings. Former India skipper Kohli reached 10k runs in 299 innings. West Indies icon Gayle unlocked the milestone in 285 innings while veteran Australian opener David Warner took 303 innings for 10,000 T20 runs

"Virat Kohli hasn't been with us for three matches. Obviously, when a player of Kohli calibre isn't available, it does make a little difference but, in his place, the way Sarfaraz Khan recently batted, he did very well,” said Gill.

“With abundant happiness and our hearts full of love, we are pleased to inform everyone that on February 15th, we welcomed our baby boy Akaay and Vamika’s little brother into this world,” both Kohli and Anushka wrote.

"Double hundred. Double fifty. This duo of Yashasvi & Sarfaraz has been double trouble for England," cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar wrote on X

Ben Stokes will earn his 100th Test cap when he leads England against India in the third Test beginning Thursday in Rajkot, with both sides having to contend with the absence of key players.

The series is level at 1-1 after two matches that Kohli also missed, and will resume without him in Rajkot for the third Test starting Thursday.

Former South Africa skipper AB de Villiers on Thursday said he made a "terrible mistake" of "sharing false information" about India's Virat Kohli.

The incident took place during the first match of a four-Test series in 2015

The Indian batter, who was player of the tournament at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023, had a superb year with the bat, culminating in a record tally of runs at the home World Cup, where his contributions played a major part in India's run to the final.

The statement added: "The BCCI requests the media and fans to respect Virat Kohli's privacy during this time and refrain from speculating on the nature of his personal reasons."

England have certainly added spice to Test cricket with the way they have played Test cricket since captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum joined hands. By eliminating the fear of failure, the England men's team have played free-flowing cricket and have not been afraid of taking bold calls even in the toughest situations - an approach that has been labelled Bazball.

Novak Djokovic has opened up about his special connection with Virat Kohli and said that he has been in constant touch with the Indian cricket star through text messages.

Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma both returned to the T20 squad after more than a year's absence for the series starting Thursday in Mohali, as the teams prepare for the T20 World Cup in June.