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Fans celebrated Virat Kohli’s return to the Arun Jaitley Stadium for the 2025 Ranji Trophy with hilarious chants of ‘Humara Neta Kaisa Ho?’.
Virat Kohli (Picture Credit: PTI)
Fans in the capital were at their cheeky best on Thursday to celebrate Virat Kohli’s return to the Arun Jaitley Stadium as a Delhi player in the 2025 Ranji Trophy against Railways.
Queues outside the stadium before the first session and during breaks made chants of, Humara neta kaisa ho, Virat Kohli jaisa ho (Who should be our politician like? He should be like Virat Kohli!), a humorous take on a rudimentary political cry. The video for these chants has now gone viral on social media. Watch one here:
It’s not the only off-field event to hog the headlines. Around 16,000 people were said to have joined the celebration at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, almost double what the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) was initially expecting.
According to a PTI report, the DDCA initially opened the roughly 6,000-capacity ‘Gautam Gambhir Stand’ for spectators but sensing that the crowd situation could get out of hand, they were forced to add the ‘Bishan Singh Bedi Stand’ which can accommodate around 11,000 people.
“I have been involved in Delhi cricket for more than 30 years but I have not witnessed such scenes for a Ranji Trophy game. It just shows the Kohli’s popularity is unmatched,” DDCA secretary Ashok Sharma told PTI.
“What made it more challenging was that fans entering the stadium coincided with the VIP movement of PM Modi on the outside roads and as part of his strict security protocol and to maintain order, we were instructed by the police to open another stand for the public,” he added.
The security was tight and regularly bolstered but still a couple of audience members managed to invade into the field to catch a closer glimpse of their superstar.
Kohli, on his part, obliged by hyping up the crowd with his gestures and even playing with them by creating virtual chanting competitions between two sections of the ground.
Railways batted first and got all-out for 241. In reply, Delhi scored 41/1 and went to stumps 200 runs behind the first innings score. Kohli will almost certainly get a chance to bat on Friday.
