Social media erupted in a collective hurrah on Thursday, as team India captain Virat Kohli completed his 32nd birth anniversary. While ‘Cheeku’ himself enjoyed a real physical birthday bash with his Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) teammates at the Emirates, celebrities and fans all across the globe chimed in with congratulatory messages on the auspicious occasion. Here are some of the most prominent highlights from Twitter:
Happy Birthday @imVkohli! All the best for the coming season.
Continue inspiring. Have a blessed and healthy year ahead. pic.twitter.com/i0FYyuzSlH— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) November 5, 2020
A very happy birthday to the Indian run-machine @imVkohli
May you continue to make India proud and wish you the best in everything!#HappyBirthdayViratKohli pic.twitter.com/r5Lto5HUYu— Kidambi Srikanth (@srikidambi) November 5, 2020
Happy Birthday @imVkohli. Best wishes.
— Anil Kumble (@anilkumble1074) November 5, 2020
ECB takes a sarcastic dig on Virat’s Birthday
Amidst all the felicitations and well-wishes, though, there was one party that tried a hilarious take on the occasion. Earlier in the day, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) social account made a cheeky post to wish Cheeku Happy Birthday.
The ECB Facebook account posted a clip of Virat’s dismissal; featuring English leggie Adil Rashid castle Kohli’s off-stump with a sharp flipper-delivery. The video dates back to 2018’s 3rd ODI between England and India played at Headingley. Here’s the video that the ECB Facebook account captioned, “Happy birthday Virat Kohli ?”.
Unsurprisingly, a lot of fans didn’t approve of ECB’s ‘joke’ and offered them some hard words of rebuttal.
Meanwhile, Kohli and RCB would be eager to capitalize on the lucky vibes of the occasion and finally acquire their much-awaited maiden IPL trophy. Their first challenge will to neutralize arch-rivals Sunrisers Hyderabad’s contest in the eliminator match on Friday that will be played at Abu Dhabi.