‘Don't call me King’: Virat Kohli urges fans

Former India captain Virat Kohli has urged fans not to call him 'King', saying he felt embarrassed when addressed so.

The India batting stalwart made a heartfelt plea to the fans during the high-profile RCB Unbox event ahead of IPL 2024 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday, where RCB was rechristened as Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Kohli has often been labelled as 'King' by his followers on social media and more so, even by the media and the broadcasters. If Sachin Tendulkar is called as the 'God of cricket' then Kohli is the new 'King'. 

At the closing stage of the RCB Unbox event that was hosted by Danish Sait, the latter asked him, "how is the King feeling?". As soon as the crowd heard that line, they went berserk inside the stadium.

However, an embarrassed Kohli replied, ""Let me talk. Guys, we have to get to Chennai tonight. We have a chartered flight so we don't have time (laughs). Firstly, you need to stop calling me that word [King]. I was telling Faf [Faf du Plessis] that it is very embarrassing for me when you call me that name every year, just call me Virat."
Kohli, who will start his 17th season with the RCB in IPL 2024, kick-start the new campaign away to the reigning champions Chennai Super Kings led by MS Dhoni in the first fixture of the much-awaited tournament.