(Image source from: Twitter.com/RCBTweets)
On March 19, Royal Challengers Bangalore (now known as Royal Challengers Bengaluru) embarked on a fresh chapter with an Unbox event at Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy stadium. The team revealed a new logo and jersey in anticipation of IPL 2024. As the Unbox event concluded, fans eagerly awaited the words of their beloved "King" Kohli. However, before Kohli took the stage, the RCB women's team, led by Smriti Mandhana, received recognition for their triumph in the WPL 2024. This victory marked RCB's first T20 tournament win, a feat that has eluded the men's team in the past 16 editions.
When Kohli finally addressed the crowd, host Danish Sait inquired about his feelings as the "King." Kohli expressed his gratitude for being back and basked in the adoration of his fans. However, he had a humble request for them. He asked that they refrain from using the title of "King" and simply address him as Virat, as it made him feel uncomfortable. Now, the question remains: Will the fans honor Kohli's request and stop calling him King Kohli?
The media and commentators bestowed the titles of "Master Blaster" and "God of Cricket" upon Sachin Tendulkar, while Geoffrey Boycott dubbed Sourav Ganguly the "Prince of Calcutta". However, it was a fan named Kunal Gandhi who first labeled Virat Kohli as the "King Kohli". Gandhi, an Indian residing in Australia, revealed in an interview with the Daily Observer that during India's 2014 tour Down Under, he wanted to gift Kohli a jersey. In order to add an appropriate adjective to Kohli's name, Gandhi came up with the term "King" as he recognized Kohli's exceptional form at the time. Gandhi presented Kohli with a jersey bearing the name "King Kohli", and Kohli graciously signed it, leading people to start referring to him by this moniker.
