New Delhi, April 27 (IANS) The Arun Jaitley Stadium almost felt like the home ground of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), as a sea of red jerseys filled nearly half the stands, passionately supporting their local hero, Virat Kohli.
According to official records, as many as 35,000 spectators attended the thrilling encounter between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday.
Speaking to IANS, a Virat Kohli fan said, “We are here to support RCB, and that too because of Kohli. We want him to score a hundred today — it would be a pure delight to watch him in action.”
Another fan echoed the sentiment, saying, “Delhi is our team, but Kohli is in our hearts. We wish for Capitals to win, but we also want Virat to score big here.”
During the fielding, even a couple of misfields from Virat Kohli received a loud cheer from the fans.
Virat last played a competitive match at this venue during the Ranji Trophy, when the BCCI had mandated all star players to represent their state teams. Even then, a large crowd had turned up to witness the stylish batter in action.
Coming back to Sunday’s match, Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the toss and elected to bowl first creating the opportunity for the fans to witness the chase master in full flow.
Axar Patel’s side scored 162-8 in the first innings courtesy of a late knock by Tristian Stubbs. KL Rahul’s aggressive approach this season took a backfoot as he rotated his way to a gritty 41 off 39 deliveries with only three boundaries to his name.
Playing XIs
Delhi Capitals: Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel (captain), Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mukesh Kumar
Impact Substitutes: Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Jake Fraser McGurk, Madhav Tiwari, and Tripurana Vijay
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Jacob Bethell, Rajat Patidar (captain), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, and Yash Dayal
Impact Substitutes: Devdutt Padikkal, Liam Livingstone, Rasikh Dar Salam, Manoj Bhandage, and Swapnil Singh
–IANS
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