MELBOURNE: Virat Kohli fans celebrated the Indian star batsman's 34th birthday in Melbourne and wished him good luck while cheering for him to win the ongoing T20 World Cup.
The Indian fans present in Melbourne came together to celebrate the former captain's birthday and showered well wishes on the 34-year-old. Fans present there also cut a cake with Virat's name on it with loud cheers of hip hip hurray for the Indian player who has been in great form in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
Fans across the globe adore Virat for his batting prowess and the absolute gem of a person that he is. His never give up attitude serves as an inspiration to many around the world.
The batter has wowed fans with his love for the game and his penchant for fitness, lifting the Indian side's fitness standards and bringing about a change in the Indian dressing room. He has also been a great ambassador for cricket with a sheer passion for test cricket which has seen a decline in the audience with the T20 format being preferred by most viewers.
India's test success in recent years under his leadership is a testimony to the passion that Virat exudes for Test cricket. He has been instrumental in the team's victories in the SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries.
The team won the Border Gavaskar trophy twice in Australia in the year 2018-19 and 2020-21. Under his leadership, the team also made it to the finals of the first-ever ICC World Test Championship in England.
Touted as a modern-day great in cricket, Virat has cricket stats that players dream of. He is the sixth-highest run-scorer in international cricket with 24350 runs from 477 matches.
The batter also is joint-second with Ricky Ponting to score the most number of international hundreds with 71 centuries to his name, only behind cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.
He is India's most successful Test captain with 40 wins from 68 matches and also holds the record for the most number of runs in T20Is with 3932 runs in 105 innings and became the highest run scorer in T20 World Cups, going past Mahela Jayawardene's tally of 1016 runs in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
Virat has also attained some championship gold along with his team, winning the Cricket World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013.
An avid Kohli fan, Suren said, "His birthday is always special. You wonder how a person can make over a billion people so proud, with his special knock against Pakistan in the World Cup helping the team win. He has been performing regularly and has performed with the bat in all games for India in the ongoing World Cup. He has been the player of the tournament earlier in the T20 World Cup. In the upcoming games, we have very high hopes for him as he is performing well and he will definitely get us a World Cup this year."
Ayushi a cricket fan present there wished Virat a very Happy Birthday and expressed that the best return gift he could give would be by winning the T20 World Cup.
"I wish Virat a very happy birthday and lots of love and success. May you get all the success. You enjoy your life with happiness and love with your family. I request you to win the World Cup, please. We need it as a gift from you," said Ayushi.
India will face Zimbabwe on November 6 in their final Super-12 encounter and will look to win the match to cement a place in the T20 World Cup semi-finals.