Mohammed Azharuddeen reveals the text he got from Virat Kohli after being picked by RCB in the IPL Auction 2021
Mohammed Azharuddeen has grabbed the attention during the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy 2021. In the Elite Group E game, Kerala faced the in-form Mumbai team at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. After asked to bat first, Mumbai went on to post a huge total of 196 runs with the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aditya Tare, Suryakumar Yadav and few others.
In the second innings, Mohammed Azharuddeen went on to tear apart the experienced bowling attack as he scored 137 off just 54 deliveries which helped his side to chase down the target at the end of the 16th over of the game. Azharuddeen became the first batsman from Kerala to score a century in a T20 game and was the third Indian to achieve this feat.
Later, the Kerala born cricketer revealed that he is a huge fan of the Indian skipper Virat Kohli and wants to play under his leadership in the Indian Premier League. In the IPL auction Auction 2021, his dream of playing for RCB came true after he had been scalped by the Virat-led franchise for his base price of INR 20 lakhs.
During an interview with Times Now, the 26-year-old shared that he got a text from the RCB skipper (Virat Kohli) which he didn't believe whether was his number till verified by Sanju Samson. Azharuddeen said, " I was shocked, I didn't reply initially."
“Yes, two minutes after the auction he texted me. ‘Welcome to RCB, all the best. Virat here.’ Firstly, I was shocked. I didn’t reply initially. I went to Sanju bhai and asked him if it’s Virat bhai’s number. After Sanju confirmed it, only after that I replied back. I never thought he will message me. I also responded to the message as I wrote, ‘That means my world.’ I am so excited and I am looking forward to meeting him in the IPL,” Azharuddeen added.
Without any doubt, he is one of the talented cricketers who can dominate any best bowling line-up at any position. The latter has amassed 451 runs from his 24 outings in T20s with a healthy strike-rate of well above 140.