Virat Kohli walks up to Mayanti mid-celebrations; his stirring ‘touch the trophy’ gesture leaves anchor misty-eyed
The IPL Trophy victory on Tuesday was not just for the Rajat Patidar-led side, which beat Punjab Kings by six runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, but for every player that has been part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru outfit over the last 18 years – Virat Kohli did not just say it, he meant it. And his gesture for broadcaster Mayanti Langer, whose husband Stuart Binny was part of the RCB outfit the last time they reached the final, left her misty-eyed.
In a clip that went viral on social media, midway through the celebrations, as the RCB players were going around the ground with the title, Kohli was seen taking the trophy from the hands of Jitesh Sharma and walked over to Mayanti and told her, ‘touch the trophy’. The gesture left her emotional.
Binny, a Bengaluru boy himself, who retired from all forms of cricket in 2021, was part of the RCB team for two seasons. In his debut campaign, in 2016, RCB reached the final, but was denied the honour after losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Mayanti, too, has her connections to the city. Despite being originally from Delhi, she shifted her base to Bengaluru over a decade back. “I followed a boy to Bengaluru (laughs). When I met Stuart (cricketer Stuart Binny) and we started getting serious, we decided to stay together after we got engaged. That is how Bengaluru happened. I knew it was a long-term commitment; my husband got an apartment for us, and that is how I came to be here. I love the city, it has a charm about it,” he had told Hindustan Times in an interview in 2021. “From Cubbon Park to Chinnaswamy Stadium, there are so many places that I’ve come to like, and we have a great group of friends here, so it feels like home,” she added.
RCB team gear up for victory parade
The Patidar-led team reached Bengaluru on Wednesday afternoon amid a roaring welcome from waiting fans, who lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the star-studded side. The state’s Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, received the players at the airport.
The entire team will participate in a victory celebration at the Chinnaswamy Stadium at 5 PM. The celebration will begin with the much-anticipated open-top bus parade from Vidhana Soudha to the stadium.