# Ishant Sharma’s joke led Virat Kohli to sign KS Bharat for RCB 2026-08-25T20:21:17+00:00 | Sports | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet KS Bharat has revealed how a lighthearted team-bonding session during the Indian cricket team's 2021 home series against England led to his IPL contract with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Ishant Sharma, then a teammate, went around a breakfast table urging Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli to sign the wicketkeeper-batsman. Rohit said Mumbai Indians already had Ishan Kishan, and KL Rahul said he kept wickets himself. Ishant then turned to his Delhi friend Kohli, who noted that Parthiv Patel was retiring. Bharat said he had first spoken to Kohli in a lift in Chennai before the auction, asking for a chance because nobody scouts Andhra. Kohli promised to look into it. The conversation at breakfast began as a joke but turned serious, with the whole team wanting to help. Bharat said he felt welcomed by the unit even before making his debut. RCB signed him for Rs 20 lakh in the auction that followed. He made his IPL debut in 2021, scored a last-ball six in his final league game, and played eight matches for RCB before moving to other franchises. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Bharat's story shows how personal connections inside the national team often open IPL doors for domestic players from smaller state associations. The auction system is meant to be a level playing field, but a captain's word can be decisive, as Kohli's remark about Parthiv Patel's retirement effectively created a vacancy at RCB that Bharat filled. For a wicketkeeper-batsman from Andhra, a state with little IPL representation, that informal push mattered more than any scouting report. Bharat's subsequent career path, eight IPL games in four seasons across five franchises, underlines how hard it is to stay in the XI even after landing a contract. The next auction will show whether any other uncapped player gets a similar behind-the-scenes backing. Indian Opinion Analysis ## Coverage - timesnownews.com Straight narrative of Bharat's account with no added opinion or slant. This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Indian Premier League, Ishant Sharma, KS Bharat, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Virat Kohli Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/ishant-sharmas-joke-led-virat-kohli-to-sign-ks-bharat-for-rcb/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/ishant-sharmas-joke-led-virat-kohli-to-sign-ks-bharat-for-rcb/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/