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Two overs. That is all it took for this rivalry to produce something memorable at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday night. Virat Kohli and Kagiso Rabada have faced each other enough times in T20 cricket to know what the other is capable of, and what unfolded in Ahmedabad was a two-act drama that could not have been scripted more neatly, one over belonging entirely to the batter, the next belonging entirely to the bowler.

GT vs RCB: The over that silenced Kagiso Rabada in Ahmedabad

Kagiso Rabada opened the bowling and Virat Kohli came after him from the first ball. A short delivery was pulled over midwicket for four.

The second, back of a length, was lofted over wide mid-off for another. The third was carved late past the fielder at deep point, a fourth. The fourth, short outside off, was cut away to the square third man fence for a fifth. And then the fifth ball, pitched up outside off, was creamed through the covers with the full face of the bat, five consecutive fours off Kagiso Rabada, one of the most dangerous bowlers in the competition, in a single over.

The 21 runs from that over put Virat Kohli in elite company among RCB batters, only Chris Gayle, who hit five fours off Ishwar Pandey in 2013, and Shane Watson, who did the same off Thisara Perera in 2016, had previously managed the feat at the franchise.

Virat Kohli raced to 28 from his first ten balls, equalling the fastest start of his T20 career, matching a knock against CSK in Bengaluru in 2025 and the Ahmedabad crowd was fully behind him. Kagiso Rabada had been torn apart and the over ended with him walking back to his mark having conceded more in six balls than most bowlers concede in two overs.

GT vs RCB: The over that settled the account against Virat Kohli

What separates the great fast bowlers from the merely good ones is what they do next. Kagiso Rabada came back in his third over and he came back with intent. A wide to start, then a probing delivery that Virat Kohli defended onto his pads for no run.

And then the third ball, short, quick, aimed at middle and leg, the kind of delivery designed to hurry a batter who had been playing so freely. Kohli advanced down the pitch and tried to work it across the line. The pace and bounce rushed him. He lost his shape.

The top edge skied off the bat and Rashid Khan at midwicket took it comfortably. Kagiso Rabada was animated immediately, a roar, a stare at Virat Kohli as he walked past, the reaction of a man who had been hit hard and hit back harder.

"That's the quality he has. Didn't get bogged down despite Virat Kohli taking him on," the commentary noted, and it was the most accurate summary of what had just happened. This was the fifth time Rabada has dismissed Kohli in T20 cricket. Across 16 head-to-head innings Kohli has scored 111 runs off 79 balls against him at an average of just 22.20, numbers that tell you how often this particular battle ends in the bowler's favour despite the batter's brilliance.

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GT vs RCB: What it meant for the match in Ahmedabad

Virat Kohli's dismissal for 28 off 13 five fours, one six, a strike rate of 21 reduced RCB to 35 for 2 and stalled the momentum he had created so dramatically in the Powerplay. Kagiso Rabada finished with 1 for 44 from four overs, expensive overall but the wicket that mattered. RCB slipped to 111 for 6 by the 12th over, a collapse that followed the dismissal and one that the early fireworks could not have predicted. And RCB ultimately bundled out for 155.

GT had won the toss and elected to bowl, backing the dew factor later in the evening, and Rabada's ability to take the most important wicket in the opposition lineup after being taken apart in his opening over is precisely the kind of performance that reminds you why they brought him in.