Virat Kohli Ridicules 'Chartered Flight' Rumors in IPL 2026
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New Delhi, March 22 (NationPress) India's cricket sensation Virat Kohli has dismissed ‘false reports’ claiming that he requested a chartered flight for traveling from India to London, as well as expressing a desire to return home during the matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.
The rumors, circulated by an Instagram account called 'worldinlast24hrs', alleged that Kohli had approached the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) management for access to chartered flights between India and London, and that he intended to travel to the UK when there were gaps of more than three days between matches.
However, the former RCB captain quickly refuted these claims, sharing a screenshot of the now-deleted post on his Instagram story, accompanied by several 'laughing out loud' emoticons.
Following Kohli's response, the aforementioned Instagram account reported that their page had crashed, stating, "Our account crashed after Virat Kohli's story" along with analytics screenshots.
Earlier, during the team's first training session, Kohli addressed a small group of Indian players, motivating them to deliver their best performances in the upcoming weeks. He remarked, "We put in tremendous effort over the last two to three seasons to achieve what we did last year. It's only going to get more challenging as other teams will come at us harder."
Head coach Andy Flower had welcomed the new players to the squad prior to Kohli's motivational talk during the initial training session.
The former India captain, who ranks among the top all-time scorers in the IPL, emphasized the need for urgency from day one, stating, "We cannot afford to waste these days. We need to stay on top. So, let’s gear up now. Let's not squander a single moment of any session we partake in. We must give our 120 percent for these two and a half months."