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Will the real Virat Kohli please stand up?
All that has been documented about the Bengaluru traffic, extensively, yet unembellished, assumes the form of a flagrant concoction on Sundays. The swarming city tends to remain uncharacteristically calm on this particular day, revitalising ahead of another week’s hustle and bustle.
The 32.7 kilometres ride from Kempegowda International Airport to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium is usually a comfortable, 45-minute ride on regular Bengaluru Sundays, except, 26 March was not one of those.
After a prolonged interlude of three years, fans of Royal Challengers Bangalore were about to throng the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
But no sooner did our car ditch the NH 44 to enter the city roads, than the realisation struck – beyond everything else, the greatest spectacle on offer remains Virat Kohli.
Encircling our car were two-wheelers – plenty of them, each visibly different from the other, barring one uniting factor. Everyone on the bikes wore a red and black kit, with its back reading ‘Virat 18’.
The Quint arrived at the stadium five hours prior to the event, yet, the formation of a queue was already beyond its inception stage. Forget what the bureaucracy dictates, the most powerful person in Bengaluru was, albeit for a few hours, the person deployed at the ticket counter.
He was not of great help to many – the tickets were already sold. Seizing the opportunity were a few miscreants, trying to sell whatever they had purchased, of course, for a premium. The media accreditation card did prevent him from approaching us, but not the jersey seller.
Fortune was smiling ever so brightly on him, for the entire collection was pounced upon and sold soon, at a pace that could put Gayle’s 30-ball century to shame. The unifier, yet again, was that particular combination of five letters and two numbers – Virat 18.
By then, any unwary onlooker could have misapprehended the fandom for a giant-scale cloning operation. Barring one courageous soul, a rebel who turned up with a ‘Dhoni 7’ Indian shirt, everyone had donned the same kit. With pride.
Now, will the real Virat Kohli please stand up?
He did. Not at the drop of a hat, but eventually, and that sparked an eruption, a wave of ecstasy.
A roar, deafening but synchronised, was all the hint one needed to predict the inevitable – Kohli was padded up, ready to unleash.
The first few deliveries saw the former captain checking his defensive stance, though not in a perfectly efficacious manner, as Topley did manage to dismantle his stumps – quietude ensued. Then, the shots were called.
Kohli started off by batting against the pacers, before switching nets to face the spinners. The entire saga might not have exceeded 20 minutes, but every boundary was cheered on, and every maximum resulted in rhapsodies.
These fours, sixes and runs will not be added to Kohli’s official career tally – but try telling that to Bengaluru.
As he breezed into the dressing room, wriggling his way through zealous fans to his left, and opportunistic photographers to his right, marking the conclusion of the main act, those in waiting got their moment under the sun.
A lap of honour, followed by the musical acts, the ‘coronation’ of Gayle and de Villiers, and finally, the launch of the new jersey marked a glamorous night at the Chinnaswamy.
The 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) season is still a few days away, but whilst returning to their homes, those in the bikes might have hummed:
Guess who’s back? Back again;
Virat’s back. Tell a friend.
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