BENGALURU: IN the end, the match ended without a ball being bowled. Saturday was going to be a significant day as it marked the resumption of the Indian Premier League (IPL) post a forced break after an escalation of hostilities between India and Pakistan. It was also Virat Kohli's first match out after his announcement of Test retirement.
But the forecast of rain proved to be real. It started raining a hour or so before the match and it never really stopped before play was called off some four hours later.
Yet, the fans had their moment; that of wearing a white jersey instead of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Red and Gold. Kohli mania was visible as soon as one stepped out of the Cubbon Park metro on Saturday afternoon. It was pretty clear that the tie between RCB and KKR at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium would turn out to be a tribute to one of India's most successful Test batters. Even in the stands, whites outshone Red and Golds. Kohli is indeed the crowd-puller. Even when heavens opened up and the stadium was drenched bone wet, the fans were staying back to salute their king.
The former Indian captain had called it a day from the longest format days after his successor Rohit Sharma announced his decision. Soon after, the tributes started pouring in on social media. When the reworked fixtures were announced, fans started a campaign of sorts, asking everyone to wear a white jersey in the name of Kohli as a tribute.
One such group — software professionals Tamalika, Yateesh and Shashank — printed about 250 replica white jerseys and were selling them near Cubbon Park metro station. For them, it was about giving Kohli the on-field tribute he deserved. “The idea came from Yateesh and it was all last minute. But we wrapped things up quickly, put whatever money we could afford and printed about 250 T-shirts,” Tamalika told this daily. “There is an adrenaline rush; when Kohli loses, we all lose. Of course, RCB is not just Kohli and it's about the entire team, but Kohli is an emotion. We wanted to give a tribute to Kohli since his Test retirement,” she added.
Yogesh, who has a tea shop in Davanagere and occasionally sells replica jerseys during RCB games, printed about 300 and had already sold almost half of them before 3 PM. “This match (RCB vs KKR) is going to be special as a tribute to Kohli,” he said.
Over the next few hours, thousands walked into the M Chinnaswamy Stadium hoping to stand up and applaud Kohli’s contribution in the longest format. Rain Gods, however, decided to intervene as the heavens opened.
While RCB are well placed to well qualify, Kolkata, last year's holders, were eliminated as they needed to stay in contention.