RCB vs LSG: Did you know Virat Kohli & LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka are business partners?

The recently concluded IPL 2023 game between the Royal Challengers of Bangalore and the Lucknow Super Giants turned out to be a titanic clash for more than just one reason. For starters, the boys from Bengaluru managed to execute their payback for the recent final-ball loss against LSG with great finesse and efficiency. Batting first on a difficult Lucknow wicket, RCB managed to muster up only 126 runs at the loss of 7 wickets, leaving their bowlers and fielders very a slim margin for error thereafter. But, thanks to an inspired and stimulates bowling attack (including Mohammad Siraj) that the team in red bundled out KL Rahul & Co. for 108 to earn RCB its fifth win of the season. 

But what caught the attention of the entire world is the post-match rumble that involved the heavyweights Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir, and the equally feisty and dogged Afghanistan fast bowler Naveen Ul Haq. A lot was said and gestured during the intense tussle between the two teams but it wasn't until the last delivery was bowled that the real drama unfolded. Kohli was at his volatile best and so was Gambhir, and with Naveen Ul Haq and a few others, too, getting on board, it looked like that something serious was about to go down at Lucknow's Ekana Cricket Stadium. A due intervention from players like Glenn Maxwell, Amit Mishra and LSG captain KL Rahul defused things but one could say with certainty that the sparks of this rift will longer than usual.

That said, not many would know that the two teams share an interesting connection that again involves Virat Kohli. Many would have spotted the talisman Indian batter sharing a surprisingly pleasant moment with LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka amid all the cacophony. As it turns out, the two are established business partners outside the field and have been working together for a number of years.

Virat Kohli and the RP-Sanjiv Goenka group have together carried out a number of business initiatives which include the popular Indian Sports Honours Awards (founded in 2017 along with the Virat Kohli Foundation) and celebrity golf tournament which was held in 2017. To top that, Kohli has been the brand ambassador of the RP-SG snacking product Too Yumm since 2018 and one would have seen him endorsing the product through multiple advertisements.