Virat Kohli’s fan found biking in Lahore wearing Pakistan jersey written ‘Virat’ and ‘18’ on it

A week back or so, former Pakistan captain Younis Khan said at an event in London that India captain Virat Kohli is a player who has a following in Pakistan as well. He even went to the extent of saying that aspiring cricketers in Pakistan want to be like Kohli both in terms of batting skills and fitness. Younis’ words about Kohli’s popularity soon turned out to be true.

Recently, a photo went viral from Pakistan that showed a man riding a two-wheeler on the streets of Lahore with the name “Virat” and jersey no. “18” printed on the back of his shirt. The Indian captain’s jersey too bears the name “Virat” and is known by the jersey No.18. It clearly showed the man’s popularity in places.

Kohli had a terrific outing both as the captain and batsman of India at The Oval on Sunday against the Australians. Playing their second game of the ICC World Cup 2019, Kohli won the toss and elected to bat. And then after the opening duo of Rohit Sharma (57) and Shikhar Dhawan (117) laid the foundation, he excelled with a 77-ball 82.

The ace batsman, who scored his 50th fifty in ODIs, was in such fluent form that even his 42nd ODI hundred seemed possible at one stage even though he came out to bat at No. 3. Besides, his gesture of backing Australia’s Steve Smith when the latter was being booed by the Indian crowd on the ground also won him many admirers. Former Pakistan players Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt congratulated him for his act.

Photo of the day. A Virat Kohli fan with his jersey number 18 spotted on the roads of Lahore. Picture via @sohailimrangeo pic.twitter.com/JuoX3NHZMu

— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) June 9, 2019

Come June 16 and Kohli’s Pakistani fans will be under great dilemma

However, Kohli’s Pakistani fans will find themselves in a Sania Mirza-like situation when their national team will take on India in the World Cup on June 16. India haven’t ever lost a match in the World Cup against the arch-rivals and if Sarfaraz Ahmed’s boys have to script a historic first this year, they will have to do it at the expense of Kohli’s happiness. For Kohli’s die-hard fans in Pakistan, that would be a difficult situation to handle.