RCB’s green jersey match has always been a topic of discussion in IPL. Since 2011, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru wear the green kit for one of their afternoon matches. In 2021, RCB did something new and wore a blue kit as a tribute to the frontline warriors of the COVID pandemic, but every year apart from it, they wore the green kit.
The first such match happened on May 8, 2011, where RCB beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala by nine wickets. Virat Kohli is the only common player in the 2011 and 2024 match of RCB’s green jersey. Here’s a look at Bengaluru’s playing XI from that game, and where are they now.
Openers – Chris Gayle and TM Dilshan
Chris Gayle made history in that match as Prasanth Parmeswaran ended up conceding 37 runs in an over against him. Gayle scored 44 off 16 and even took a wicket. TM Dilshan scored a match-winning half-century for RCB. Both all-rounders have retired and played in Legends Leagues now.
Middle Order – Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers (wk), Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammad Kaif, Saurabh Tiwary and Daniel Vettori (c)
RCB played with four specialist Indian batters in their middle-order for that game. Along with Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammad Kaif and Saurabh Tiwary were also present. Daniel Vettori was the captain, while AB de Villiers kept the wickets.
Kohli scored 27, while Vettori bowled a brilliant spell of 2/24. The other batters did not get a chance to bat. Except Kohli and Pujara, everyone has retired. Kaif works as a commentator. Vettori is SRH’s coach, whereas de Villiers works as a YouTuber, Pujara plays domestic cricket and Tiwary plays in other leagues.
Bowlers – Zaheer Khan, Sreenath Aravind and Abhimanyu Mithun
The bowling lineup featured three Indian pacers. Zaheer Khan and Abhimanyu Mithun scalped one wicket each. Left-arm medium pacer Sreenath Aravind bowled a tidy spell of 1/20 in four overs.
All three fast bowlers have quit cricket. Mithun plays in other leagues, Khan is the Director of Global Cricket Operations for MI and a Hindi commentator. Aravind last turned up for Gujarat Giants in Legends League 2022.
