It wasn't quite as enthralling as AB De Villiers' comeback, it didn't have all the sixes and sheer entertainment value, but yet, Virat Kohli made a wonderful return for the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday. Playing his first game of IPL 2017, against the Mumbai Indians, in front of a packed Chinnaswamy, cheering his every shot on, Kohli got his groove on, on a difficult surface.
It took a while for AB De Villiers to go where only AB De Villiers can go against KXIP, but Virat Kohli went only Virat Kohli can go in the third over of the match.
After gauging the pace of the wicket and the lines and lengths Tim Southee was bowling in the first over, Kohli decided to take the bowler on and when the RCB captain takes a bowler on, very rarely does the man sending those white balls down win.
The first one was pure quality – the full flow of the bat, bang in the middle, the ball sailing over the bowler and into the stands for a six.
Kohli's score on comeback: Runs: 62. Balls: 47. Fours: 5. Sixes: 2. Brilliance: Priceless.
Then came a four, as Kohli picked the length quickly, rocked back and pulled one to the boundary.
Another four followed, and this was brilliant – a ball well outside off, but Kohli moved to the off-stump and used those must-be-some-Harry-Potter-spell-on-them wrists of his to flick the ball through mid-on and midwicket for one more boundary.
With the wicket slowing down considerably as the ball got older, there was a bit of a lull in proceedings, before those proceedings got a big dose of excitement when Kohli's cricketing soulmate (no, no, not Anushka Sharma, read the cricketing bit) AB De Villiers walked out into the middle.
If there ever is a dream partnership in modern-day cricket, it is Kohli and De Villiers – two batsmen who can carve you apart playing pure cricketing shots.
Once De Villiers settled down, he decided to go for the big ones and Kohli said "alright AB, let me also join in."
There were sixes that went well into the crowd and flat ones that flew over the ropes like a tracer bullet. There were gorgeous drives that beat the fielders in the deep and delicate touches that were placed beautifully.
And these two were doing all that on a pitch that was sticky and slow and not made for those gorgeous shots.
With the need of the hour being throwing the bat around every ball as the innings headed into the final overs, Kohli finally fell, slapping a Mitchell McClenaghan delivery straight to Jos Buttler at deep point.
And while Kohli will play better innings than this as the IPL 2017 season rolls along, like De Villiers in the last game, the RCB captain showed, the truly great players don't need a game or two to settle in – it is business as usual once you step into the middle.
