The Royal Challengers Bangalore renamed themselves to Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of the IPL 2024 season at the high-profile RCB unbox event at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Tuesday. Furthermore, the franchise also launched a new kit with a touch of blue that ushered in a new era for the team. (More Cricket News)
The man of the hour was Virat Kohli who was the cynosure of everyone's eyes in the stadium. However, the star batter made a heartfelt plea to the fans during the closing stages of the event.
The former skipper urged the fans in the stadium and probably worldwide to do away with the 'King' tag. Kohli has often been labelled as 'King' by his followers on social media and more so, even by the media and the broadcasters. If Sachin Tendulkar is called as the 'God of cricket' then Kohli is the new 'King'. However, the Indian batter does not want his fans to call him by the word 'king' as it embarrasses him.
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At the closing stage of the RCB Unbox event that was hosted by Danish Sait, the latter asked him, "how is the King feeling?". As soon as the crowd heard that line, they went beserk inside the stadium.
However, an embarrassed Kohli replied, ""Let me talk. Guys, we have to get to Chennai tonight. We have a chartered flight so we don't have time (laughs). 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."
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Kohli, who will start his 17th season with the RCB in IPL 2024, kick-start the new campaign away to the reigning champions Chennai Super Kings led by MS Dhoni in the first fixture of the much-awaited tournament.
