On November 5, Team India’s top batter Virat Kohli will turn 35 years old. On Kohli’s birthday, the Men in Blue will face South Africa in the current 2023 World Cup at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has organized a special celebration at the site for Kohli’s birthday. They will give out 70,000 ‘Kohli masks’ to spectators at the India-South Africa match.
In addition to the masks, CAB has arranged a cake-cutting and felicitation event for Kohli prior of the match. Snehasish Ganguly, president of the CAB, told reporters:
“We hope to get an approval from the ICC on this. We want to make the day special for Virat. We want every fan in the stadium wearing Kohli masks when he walks in. We plan to distribute about 70,000 masks that day.”
Snehasish Ganguly
It is worth noting that a similar celebration took occurred at Eden Gardens in 2013 when Sachin Tendulkar played his final Test match there. On the first two days of the match, fans were given Tendulkar masks and placards.
Virat Kohli’s Excellence Performance in the 2023 World Cup
Virat Kohli delivered a magnificent innings under duress during India’s opening World Cup match against Australia in 2023. After Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Shreyas Iyer bagged ducks, they found themselves in a perilous situation.
KL and Kohli Rahul pulled the ship out of troubled seas, hitting 85 and 97* as the Men in Blue cruised to a six-wicket victory. He then went on to bowl an undefeated 55-run innings against Afghanistan.
The right-handed hitter failed to create an impression against Pakistan, scoring only 16 runs. In the following match, he scored 103* against Bangladesh to record his 48th ODI century.
Kohli came up just short of another century in the following game against New Zealand, finishing on 95. The veteran batsman struggled to get going against England, eventually being bowled for a nine-ball duck.
Virat Kohli is now Team India’s second-highest run-scorer in the ongoing ICC event, with 354 runs from six innings at an average of 88.50.