Class 2 girl bunks school to watch Virat Kohli; housewife stands in queue from 6 am with son and more...

Class 2 girl bunks school to watch Virat Kohli; housewife stands in queue from 6 am with son and more...

Class 2 girl bunks school to watch Virat Kohli; housewife stands in queue from 6 am with son and more... ByHT Sports Desk Jan 30, 2025 09:47 PM IST Share Via Copy Link On Thursday, several people came to support Virat Kohli, including a group of schoolkids, a budding female cricketer, and a housewife.

Delhi made no attempts to hide love for its favourite son, Virat Kohli, who returned to the Ranji Trophy after a hiatus of more than 12 years in an Elite Group D match against Railways at the Arun Jaitely Stadium on Thursday. Fans thronged the stadium from the early hours of Thursday, surpassing all expectations to bow to their King. The immensely popular star is loved across age groups, and on Thursday, the ones who came to support him included a bunch of school kids, a budding female cricketer and a housewife, among several others.

Fans thronged at the Arun Jaitely Stadium in New Delhi to catch a glimpse of Virat Kohli during a Ranji Trophy match

"We have taken off from school to watch Kohli," said the kids in a group of four as reported by news agency PTI. There was a huge roar as soon as Delhi captain Ayush Badoni won the toss. The fact that he chose to bowl first somewhat got lost.

When told that Kohli would not be batting anytime soon with Delhi opting to field, they said: "It doesn't matter, we will watch him field."A girl child, studying in class II, was also in the crowd. Fans started to make a beeline to the stadium as early as 6 am.

"I came here at 6 am with my son. We did not know which gate to enter from. It goes without saying that we are here for Kohli," said a housewife.

A young man, who was screaming the star batter's name while entering the stadium, said he was here to watch Kohli get back in form after a disappointing run in the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia.

"He should get a hundred, else the fans would be very disappointed. Everyone is here to watch only him. This is not the turnout for a Ranji match normally," he said. With the chants of his name reverberating every few minutes, it wouldn't be wrong to say that one man turned an otherwise mundane Ranji clash into a spectacle.

'Gautam Gambhir Stand' was already packed to the rafters and it hardly took time to fill the lower tier of the 'Bishan Bedi Stand', taking the crowd count well past 12,000 at toss. The deafening roars of "Kohli, Kohli" could be heard from a distance as the former India captain took the field with the rest of the Delhi teammates who too were experiencing something special.

Their hopes of watching him bat did not come true immediately as Delhi opted to bowl after winning the toss. But Kohli's mere presence on the field was enough to keep the fans hooked to the proceedings.

Manning the second slip, his every move attracted a cheer from the crowd and in the 12th over, an overzealous fan breached the security to run towards the 'King'.

He just about managed to touch Kohli's feet before being whisked away by the security. Well aware of his popularity, Kohli did not forget to acknowledge the crowd every now and then with a wave of the hand, showing respect towards the people who were there only to catch a glimpse of him.