In 1925, Jack Hobbs’ first innings at The Oval, after he’d passed W.G. Grace’s record of 126 career centuries, was greeted by spectators hurling their bowler hats in the air in an apparent tribute to the Surrey legend.
A century later, in the T20 franchise era, we saw cricket’s tradition of public fan homage continue at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium in the ongoing IPL last week. Spectators in white Test jerseys, figuratively tipping their hats off to a glorious Test career in a T20 match. The crowd may have felt bittersweet as rain dampened their celebration of Virat Kohli.
Crowd at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium gave a tribute to Virat Kohli’s Test career donning white jerseys.
| Photo Credit:
K BHAGYA PRAKASH/ The Hindu
Crowd at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium gave a tribute to Virat Kohli’s Test career donning white jerseys.
| Photo Credit:
K BHAGYA PRAKASH/ The Hindu
A greater tribute would be RCB winning the IPL trophy for Kohli. In a way, RCB, having qualified for the playoffs for the fifth time in the last six seasons, finds itself in the position of an escape artiste, who, having entered a strongbox blindfolded, handcuffed, and straitjacketed, faces the moment of truth. Can he pull off the trick? Can RCB finally win the IPL trophy?
To give itself the best chance, it should try and finish in the top two in the league table. And that’s what is at stake as it takes on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Ekana stadium in Lucknow on Friday.
SRH comes off the high of completing a record successful chase (206) at the Ekana versus Lucknow Super Giants a few days ago.
RCB, on the other hand, will look to resume its winning habit after a week-long suspension of the league and an abandoned match.