On March 19, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)—now rebranded as Royal Challengers Bengaluru—launched a new phase with an Unbox event at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. The franchise introduced a new logo and a new jersey ahead of IPL 2024. At the end of the Unbox event, Virat Kohli made a request to his fans.
Fans had to wait before they could hear “King” Kohli speak. First, it was the RCB women’s turn to be recognised for their glory. RCB women, led by Smriti Mandhana, won the WPL 2024. It was the first time RCB won a T20 tournament. The men have not been able to claim the trophy in the last 16 editions.
When Virat came to speak, host Danish Sait asked him, “How is the King feeling?” Virat said, “It is lovely to be back again.” And the fans went crazy. However, their idol had a few things to tell them.
“Firstly, you need to stop calling me that word [King]. I was telling Faf that it is very embarrassing for me when you call me that name every year; just call me Virat,” he said.
Now, will the fans stop calling him King Kohli? Sachin Tendulkar’s fans did not listen to him and still called him the “God of Cricket.” Both these monikers were first dropped by the media and adopted by the commentators, much like Geoffrey Boycott naming Sourav Ganguly the “Prince of Calcutta”. However, for Virat, it might have been a fan who started this.
Who was the first to call Kohli ‘King’?
Kunal Gandhi, an Indian fan living in Australia, claimed during an interview with Daily Observer that he had named Virat “King Kohli”.
“During India’s tour of Australia in 2014, I wanted to gift him a jersey but did not want to write only his name without adequate adjective. He was in form then and suddenly the word King came to my mind and I presented him a jersey with his name King Kohli on it. He gave his autograph on the jersey and people have started him calling King Kohli (sic),” Gandhi told the publication.
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Published: 20 Mar 2024, 12:32 PM IST
