King Kohli draws massive crowds in national capital
New Delhi: All roads led to the most famous cricket stadium in the Capital on Thursday, the Ferozeshah Kotla. Despite the name changing now to the Arun Jaitley Stadium, one man’s superstar presence made it a memorable day in an inconsequential match between Delhi and Railways in the Ranji Trophy. Welcome Virat Kohli, or King Kohli in short. The DDCA was expecting fans to turn up, but not like this. They descended in droves to catch a glimpse of Virat Kohli. People had started arriving at the venue as early as 3am, since there was no entry ticket to be purchased.
Such madness has never been seen before even for international matches in the Capital. Old timers who are ‘regulars’ at the Kotla said the kind of mass hysteria which Kohli has been able to generate is unbelievable. “I knew something special was on, as the road leading to offices in nearby Fleet Street was very busy,” said Sanjeev Sharma, an office goer.
Well, many office goers and those who travel by Delhi Metro were surprised the crowd today near Delhi Gate station had peaked. Official figures put the number of fans inside at around 11,000 but if you add a large posse of policemen and Para Military forces also pressed into service, the numbers could have been more than 13,000 on Thursday. What mattered was to get a glimpse of Virat Kohli. A thorough team man to the core, Kohli mixed with the Delhi boys. Even the rival side Railway cricketers and coaches were happy to have met the legend in the morning before play began.
Every move of Kohli was tracked and for those who had never seen him before, this was a special day. People think Virat Kohli fusses a lot, but even his lunch was ‘paneer tikka’ prepared by the DDCA chef. Kohli did not want any fancy food from outside as he is very particular about what he eats. As this match was also shown live on television, comparisons were made if the charisms of Kohli is even greater than Sachin Tendulkar. On air, WV Raman spoke of Virat Kohli glowingly. He has seen both Sachin and Kohli play. For the record, Kohli is himself and ardent admirer of Tendulkar.
Quite often, Delhi has been described as a city which does not have a strong sports culture like Kolkata or Chennai. On Thursday, this notion was dispelled as Kohli drew the crowds. There is anticipation more will turn up on Friday as well in the Capital’s historic cricket stadium. For some to arrive and gate crash was not easy. This is the beauty of sports, where fans don’t mind hardships. Kohli’s popularity transcends generations. If youngsters were excited, so were college goers and even office goers and moms who came with kids aspiring to become cricketers.
If boxing saw Muhammad Ali call himself ‘The Greatest,’ then Kohli has emerged as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) in terms of popularity. He was not in great form during the BGT Series in Australia but the willingness to play Ranji Trophy is more than symbolic.
His passion stands out as he prepares to score runs for
India in the Champions Trophy next month.
