Team India star Virat Kohli’s appeal to boycott the ‘embarrassing’ ‘King’ tag
During the high-profile RCB unboxing event at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Tuesday, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru embarked on a new journey. Virat Kohli emerged as the show stealer as he made a heartfelt and earnest request to fans during the closing stages of the event.
The former RCB captain urged the public to do away with the moniker ‘King’ to describe him. The label of ‘King’ was bestowed on Kohli many years ago by the media and broadcasting channels before the fans wholeheartedly embraced it. If Sachin Tendulkar was ‘god’, Kohli became their ‘King’, but now, after all these years, Kohli wants to end the movement once and for all, as the term embarrasses him.
While addressing the crowd, Kohli said, “It is lovely to be back again," after the host, Danish Sait, asked him, "How is the King feeling?" The crowd went berserk as the first words came out of his mouth. So, he had to stop for a second. To build it up further, the lights in the stadium began flickering, after which Kohli finally continued, "Let me talk. Guys, we have to get to Chennai tonight. We have a chartered flight, so we don't have time. 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."