One of the most heated moments that marred the 2026 Indian Premier League was the incident between Virat Kohli and Travis Head during the Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru match on May 22 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
The two seasoned players were involved in a heated exchange during RCB’s batting innings, with Kohli also refusing to shake hands with Head after SRH’s 55-run win. In a recent revelation, Venkatesh Iyer, who was Kohli’s opening partner on the day, has shared details about what happened during the incident. Iyer, who was on song during the innings, revealed that he was unaware of what was happening and noticed that Kohli was not interacting much in between balls or overs when the batters met to tap gloves.
“I’ll tell you one thing honestly. I had no idea what was going on. I noticed that when I hit a four and went to speak to Virat, he was not even looking at me. I said, ‘I am playing well enough.’ I thought he probably did not talk much,” Iyer said, speaking on the 2 Sloggers Podcast.
Iyer further stated that he only got to know a while later that the two players did not shake hands and assumed that the events took place due to history or an incident between the two players.
“Afterwards, someone came and told me that they did not shake hands. I asked ‘why?’, and he said that he also did not know, and what happened, happened. India and Australia have a long history, so I thought it would be something from the past,” Iyer added.
Iyer was acquired ahead of the 2026 season for a fee of INR 7 crore by RCB. He started the season as a backup, filling in for injured players, but received a chance at the top of the order in the back end of the season due to an injury to Phil Salt and the poor form of Jacob Bethell. He scored 209 runs in seven games, striking at 186.61. He scored an unbeaten 73 off 40 balls against the Punjab Kings, his highest score of the season. RCB lifted their second trophy, defending the maiden title they won in 2025.
