Kolkata: How passion that surrounds a sports personality, particularly Virat Kohli, can turn into a sea of people can be gauged if one walks towards the Eden Gardens from the central part of the city — Esplanade area. Beyond Eden, it was a flood of emotions for both India and iconic Kohli.
Sunday's Eden wore a different look. From 6:30 in the morning, the crowd started gathering at the Dharmatala area, Curzon Park, under the statue of Matangini Hazra, Mohammedan Sporting Club area. All of them were in search of some luck — a ticket to the stadium in the eleventh hour for the all-important India-South Africa ICC World Cup fixture.
Rs 900 denomination tickets were sold at Rs 5000 without any trouble. Tickets for the upper tier of the BC Roy Club House were being sold for as much as Rs 35,000. It is more for Virat Kohli than any other. The 'VK' euphoria reached a crescendo as people lurking outside just got the wind that India opted to bat on winning the toss.
Despite all the hurdles, spectators were seen entering the field wearing Virat Kohli's masks. Most of them were either wearing Virat Kohli's shirts or masks to celebrate the talismanic batter's 35 birthday.
A big-sized cake was sent to the Indian dressing room by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). A group of 190 people were marching towards Eden to support not only India but also Virat Kohli. Foreigners also thronged Eden to get a glimpse of their favourite stars. In a word, all roads led to Eden on Sunday.
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