The Indian Premier League aka the famous IPL as we call it popularly can actually become a gangwar of sorts. It might be famous, hugely entertaining and inspiring in equal measure, but then things can also turn hot and not so polite in a matter of seconds.
Some of the famous evidences that corroborate the above would be the almost certain takedown of Mitchell Starc (RCB) by Kieron Pollard (MI) in what was perhaps the dirtiest IPL saga in the years. The other case takes us to remember the heated exchange between two of the most gifted Indian players- Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, which took place a few seasons back in the day.
There are always such instances that happen in nearly every single IPL season that perhaps goes on to explain why passions run riot!
With nearly every single IPL franchise enjoying tens of lakhs of fans and from all over the country (this is when we aren’t even talking about legions of IPL fans outside of India), there are perhaps as many occasions of joy and splendour as there are intense moments.
If you are, for instance, a Mumbai Indians fan, you will stay a Mumbai Indians fan for the rest of the your life. Ditto for someone belonging to the Royal Challengers Bangalore clan or for that matter, the world famous Chennai Super Kings.
The colour their players wear (of their jerseys) becomes your identity, if truth be told.
But it’s not always that intense moments alone dictate the fate of an IPL contest; there are occasions marked by a special sweetness and politeness that become talk-of-the-IPL-town if one were to put it like that.
And one such incident came live last evening in the aftermath of the defeat of the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the hands of the famous Punjab Kings (previously, Kings XI Punjab).
The batsman on whom this particular episode centred is the beating heart of the country, the one standard pillar of batting perfection without whom we simply cannot imagine the context of modern Indian Cricket: Virat Kohli.
Virat Kohli, who’s been found wanting in this particular edition of the IPL like never before, was going along nicely which is when he was dismissed- all of a sudden- for a score of just 20.
You thought that the way he was batting, he would’ve gone on to score a lot more – but alas, that wasn’t meant to be.
But it’s what happened over the social media platform of Instagram and at the behest of Virat Kohli’s opponents last evening- Punjab Kings- that made rave headlines.
The team Kohli got out cheaply to took to Insta to post an endearing message (the feature image of this article). It wasn’t that difficult to sense (or note) the respect that the IPL outfit showed for the king of batting, albeit one who was found struggling.
Having said the above, the clean and sincere Virat Kohli Instagram post generated a string of reactions from the Insta audience or fan base as one would call it with many openly expressing their heart’s desire:
Appreciate your post,” said one Instagram user.
“I want Punjab to win….but it hurts watching Kohli struggle ??…i wish luck supports him in upcomming matches and specially world cup,” wrote another.
“How sweet gesture, hope he comebacks soon,” is something that another Insta user said.
“rcb fan but punjab won the heart,” was written by another fan.
Though that being told while such a heartwarming Insta post did, as a matter of fact, generate widely-loved responses, it is also a one of a kind occasion. For the truth of the matter is, not all IPL outfits always tend to reserve such open appreciation and fondness for a campaigner who happens to belong to the opponent camp.
But then again, this was no ordinary campaigner. It was- and still is- a certain Virat Kohli, the man who back in 2016 edition of the Indian Premier League, plundered no fewer than 973 runs, the most he ever has in playing the world-famous T20-league based tournament for nearly a decade now.