Virat Kohli meets rugby great Dan Carter before IPL 2026:Shreyas Iyer, Arshdeep focused on winning maiden title for PBKS

Virat Kohli caught up with former New Zealand rugby star Dan Carter ahead of IPL 2026. Kohli had earlier joined the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) camp. RCB are the defending champions in IPL 2026 and they will feature in the season opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad on 28 March. The match will be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, with the venue hosting its first major game since the deadly stampede last year. Virat Kohli meets Dan Carter The former New Zealand rugby star took to Instagram to share a picture of his meeting with Kohli. Carter used rugby and cricket emojis to caption the picture, which went viral on Instagram in no time. New Zealand star batter Daryl Mitchell dropped a comment on the picture on Instagram. “2 legends,” he wrote. Kohli later reposted the picture on his Instagram story and wrote, “Pleasure meeting you.” Kohli will be one of the stars in focus as RCB start their title defense against SRH in IPL 2026. The star cricketer is the highest run-scorer in IPL history and has hit 9085 runs for RCB in all competitions (IPL and Champions League T20). He would look to get closer to the 10,000-mark in T20 cricket, which would make him the first-ever player to achieve that mark for a single IPL team in T20 cricket. Kohli also holds the record for having scored the most runs in a single IPL (973 in 2016). Carter, for the unversed, is a retired professional rugby player who played for the Crusaders in Super Rugby and represented New Zealand internationally with the All Blacks. Also read: India to play two T20Is against Ireland:T20 World Cup champions take on Irish side in Belfast starting 26 June Shreyas Iyer, Arshdeep Singh eye maiden IPL title for PBKS Shreyas Iyer and Arshdeep Singh have their sights firmly set on winning the IPL 2026 trophy. Punjab Kings made it to the final last year, their first appearance in the summit clash after 2014, but fell short to eventual winners RCB by just six runs. Speaking at a PBKS jersey launch event, Shreyas said, “Expectations are high, which is fun. I love the challenge. But the important thing is that whenever we step in, we have to win. My eye is on the trophy.” The right-hander also reflected on his recovery from a spleen injury that sidelined him from cricket for a good period of time. “It is always challenging to come back after an injury. I had lost around seven kilos and it took a lot of effort to gain that weight back. But I love challenges. I am glad I overcame that part of my life, and I am back here proudly representing the team,” the PBKS captain shared. Arshdeep thanked Punjab Kings for backing him early on in his IPL career. “When I came here for the first time, they gave me full support and showed me my potential. They trusted me a lot when no other team did. I really appreciate that, and I want to stay here for a long time. I am looking forward to winning a lot of trophies for the team,” he said.