File photo of Virat Kohli.© PTI
Fans came in huge numbers during Delhi’s Ranji Trophy fixture against Railways at Arun Jaitley Stadium, thanks to Virat Kohli’s presence in the game. Such massive was the craze among fans that the administrators were forced to make additional last-minute arrangements to accomodate the crowd. The DDCA (Delhi and Districts Cricket Association) had projected a crowd of around 10,000 for Kohli’s homecoming, but such was his magnetic pull that even those lofty calculations went for a toss.
At first, the DDCA opened the roughly 6,000-capacity ‘Gautam Gambhir Stand’ for spectators but sensing that the crowd situation could go out of hand, the officials were forced to open the ‘Bishan Singh Bedi Stand’ which can accommodate around 11,000 people.
While speaking about the love of Delhi’s crowd for Kohli, former Pakistan player Basit Ali questioned why Kohli doesn’t play for Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League instead of Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
“Yeh banda Delhi se kyu nahi khelta IPL mein, RCB se kyu khelta hai? (Why Kohli doesn’t play for Delhi in the IPL, why does he play for RCB)?” Basit Ali said on his YouTube channel.
“I have seen very few players in my life, maybe just 2-3, who had such fan-following. Aaj to Pakistan mein bhi trend bana hua tha. Sab likh rahe, ‘Dekho izzat isko bolte hain’ (Even people in Pakistan were writing, ‘see, this is called respect),” Basit Ali said while speaking on his YouTube channel.
“He was enjoying himself with his old friends and the public. The fans were just waiting for him to respond and chanting ‘Kohli, Kohli’ for his seven hours straight,” Basit Ali added.
Virat Kohli’s much-anticipated return to the Ranji Trophy was short-lived, as he was knocked over for just six runs by Himanshu Sangwan on Friday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
(With PTI Inputs)
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