CWC 2019: WATCH - Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma meet 87-year old fan after Team India enters the semis

India beat Bangladesh by 28 runs to book a spot in the World Cup semis for the 7th time.

Virat Kohli with Charu Lata Patel

India and Bangladesh took on each other in the 40th match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first on a used pitch, and went on to set a target of 315 for Bangladesh, courtesy Rohit Sharma who scored 104, his fourth century of the tournament and valuable contributions from KL Rahul (77) and Rishabh Pant (48).

Bangladesh fought hard with the bat but were bowled out for 286 with two overs left. Shakib-Al-Hasan (66) and Mohammad Saifuddin (51*) scored half-centuries and tried their best to keep up with the required run-rate but the pitch got slower as time went on and became harder for aggressive strokeplay.

Hardik Pandya took three important wickets, but it was once again Jasprit Bumrah who was outstanding in the death overs as he picked up four wickets including two off consecutive deliveries with yorkers to end the Bangladesh innings in his final over.

With this 28-run victory, India is now assured of a spot in the semi-finals and will now play their final round-robin match againt Sri Lanka on July 6 without any pressure of qualification. 

So this was a short summary of what happened on the field, but off it someone else grabbed eyeballs from all over the world and she was 87-year old Charulata Patel. The elderly lady was seen cheering for India with all force and enthusiasm, that would shame people half of her age. She quickly became an internet sensation and many cricketers tweeted her image including the likes of Michael Vaughan and Parthiv Patel. Sourav Ganguly also was amazed by her while on commentary duties.

After the match, in a sweet gesture Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma went upto her to give her a hug and talked to her. Charulata gave her blessings to the Indian captain and vice-captain, and was visibly touched by them taking time out for her so soon after a tight contest.

Cricket World Cup shared the video on their twitter handle:

Virat Kohli later took to twitter where he posted pictures of his meeting with Charulata and thanked her for the blessings and support to Team India. He wrote, "Also would like to thank all our fans for all the love & support & especially Charulata Patel ji. She's 87 and probably one of the most passionate & dedicated fans I've ever seen. Age is just a number, passion takes you leaps & bounds. With her blessings, on to the next one."

 

 
 

By Saurabh Malhotra - 02 Jul, 2019

    Share Via