Former India captain Virat Kohli is celebrating his 35th birthday today and therefore, he is getting all the attention from cricket fans in Kolkata where the Men in Blue are taking on South Africa in their eighth match of the ICC World Cup 2023.
The stadium is packed to capacity and everyone wants to get a glimpse of King Kohli on his special day.
There was a deafening noise when Virat Kohli walked out to bat after the fall of captain Rohit Sharma's wicket in the sixth over. Rohit fell against the run of play as he tried to hit another boundary off Kagiso Rabada but hit the ball straight to South African skipper Temba Bavuma at mid-off.
The skipper departed after a quickfire 40 off 24 balls and in walked Kohli to a thunderous response. Usually when an Indian wicket falls, fans go completely silent but this time it was the opposite.
The fans were disappointed at Rohit's wicket for a brief moment but the heartbreaks were quickly followed by joy as Kohli strode out to the middle to join opener Shubman Gill at the crease.
Kohli and Gill then added 31 runs for the second wicket before Keshav Maharaj came into the attack and bowled a special delivery to castle Gill on 23.
The ball drifted into the batter's leg-stump, gripped the surface after pitching and just went past Gill's defence to clip the top of the middle pole.
Gill thought the wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock dislodged the bails and took a review but in vain as replays showed that the ball hit the stumps.
Battle of the best at Garden of Eden
This happened after India won the toss and elected to bat first against the Proteas. Both teams have already qualified for the semi-finals and will look at this match to iron out whatever little areas they need to work on in this World Cup.
India are unchanged for this game but South Africa have brought in Tabraiz Shamsi in place of Gerald Coetzee.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
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