As the Ranji Trophy match featuring Railways played by Delhi drew to a show, hordes of fans came out in thousands courtesy of Kohli’s presence at Arun Jaitley Stadium. So massive was the madness around Kohli’s presence, that the very authorities were forced to do brisk arrangements late in those hours to ensure the flow of the crowd. The DDCA had estimated a crowd of about 10,000 for Kohli’s entry; however, such was the charisma of Virat that even those heights of prediction fell flat.
The DDCA did open its up 6,000 (fine) seating Gautam Gambhir Stand for patrons but as the crowd trend suggested, if needed, they would be forced to open the Bishan Singh Bedi Stand, which has a total capacity of nearly 11,000, for the crowd.
During his comments on the crowd’s love for Kohli in Delhi, former Pakistani player Basit Ali asked why Kohli doesn’t represent Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League instead of Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
“This guy doesn’t play for the IPL with Delhi; wow, he plays with RCB?” Basit Ali said on his YouTube channel.
“I have seen very few players from my lifetime, maybe only 2-3, who enjoyed such a fan-following. Today the trend was with Pakistan too. Everyone was writing, ‘Look, this is what respect is,” Basit Ali said during an appearance on his YouTube channel.
“He spent time with his uncle friends and among the fans. For the last seven hours, they were just waiting and chanting ‘Kohli, Kohli’ for him,” further shared Basit Ali.
Kohli’s much-awaited debut in the Ranji Trophy was over before it had even begun; the veteran was dismissed for just six runs off the bowling of Himanshu Sangwan at the Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi on Friday.
