Punjab Kings spinner Harpreet Brar has finally revealed what exactly transpired between him and Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s star batter Virat Kohli during their heated on-field clash in IPL 2025.
Brar revealed that his discussion with the legend wasn’t really an altercation, but rather banter, as Kohli has observed certain things that the PBKS fielders were doing.
The Harpreet Brar and Virat Kohli incident
During IPL 2025, the two teams played a day game in Mullanpur, which RCB had won comfortably. RCB’s bowlers had bowled excellently at the death to contain PBKS to just 157.
Devdutt Padikkal made an aggressive 61 runs, and Virat Kohli made an unbeaten 73 as the two put up 103 for the second wicket after RCB had lost Phil Salt on the first ball of the chase.
Harpreet Brar dismissed Padikkal in that game and finished with 1/27 in four overs, but could not prevent RCB from winning by 7 balls to spare.
During the chase, Kohli and Brar seemed to exchange words in Punjabi. Kohli reminded Brar that he has been playing for a long time and not to try anything sneaky.
“It’s been 20 years, I even know your coach. Your hand has got so weak,” Kohli told Brar.
“It is a treasured memory for me” – Brar on Kohli
In 2021, Harpeet Brar dismissed Virat Kohli as his first IPL wicket. He also added the wickets of AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell in that game to win the Player of the Match award.
Historically, Brar has had a very good record against RCB and has been almost exclusively used against the defending champions throughout his career.
Speaking to Indian Women’s cricketer Harleen Deol on a PBKS podcast, Brar said that getting Kohli as his first IPL wicket would be a treasured memory for him.
“It’s a very big thing for me. I always feel blessed that I could do well against him. The biggest thing is my first wicket. It’s a great memory for me,” Harpreet Brar said.
He then continued to explain the incident in that afternoon’s game and how it wasn’t really a heated altercation.
“Actually, it was an afternoon match. So, we were trying to ensure that whatever throws we made were on the bounce. Our captain [Shreyas Iyer] had told us to make sure that all the throws were one-bounce. So, all of us were doing that, but Paaji [Kohli] did not say anything to them.”
“I threw the ball to [Marcus] Stoinis, and he took one step back because he wasn’t sure whether to take it directly or on the bounce. Stoinis took the one-bounce throw, and Virat bhai saw me. I was standing at point, and I could see the non-striker’s end clearly.”
“Paaji saw me standing there, so I decided that I should not look back at him. I thought that once the over ends, he’ll be busy with something else. Then, I was supposed to bowl the next over, and I was marking my run-up, and he came next to the crease and said, ‘I have been playing for 20 years.’ I said, ‘You’re taking it the wrong way. I did not make that throw on purpose.’,” Harpreet Brar added.
Brar went on to add that the one-bounce throws were actually a tactic to try to rough up the ball.
“The one-bounce throw strategy was to rough up the ball, so that it reverse swings for our pacers in the death overs. But that match didn’t go to the death overs; it ended early,” Harpreet Brar concluded.
Harpreet Brar revealed the real story behind why Virat Kohli got angry at him. 🚨
– He said it was Marcus Stoinis mistake as he collected the bowl on a bounce.
– He added our captain told us to do that in order to make bowl swing in death over.@thisisbrar pic.twitter.com/IdbVn9QdYm— 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐮🎀 (@ThecoolMahi) May 21, 2026
Harpreet Brar and Virat Kohli fight in 2026, too
During the PBKS vs RCB day game in Dharamsala this year, Kohli and Brar were once again involved in some humorous banter. During the incident, Kohli playfully challenged Brar to run him out by standing outside the crease.
Brar eventually decided not to engage and did not attempt the run out.
Also Read: Watch: Virat Kohli vs Harpreet Brar! RCB star challenges PBKS spinner to run him out during heated moment in IPL 2026