Team India's batting stalwart Virat Kohli announced the start of a new sporting brand as he took to his official account on X to do the same. However, fans on the social media platform claimed to have been afraid that the 35-year-old was going to announce his retirement, given the background he chose to deliver the message.
With Kohli becoming a brand due to his cricketing achievements and records made on the field, the veteran cricketer is the brand ambassador of several high-profile brands like Myntra, Puma, HSBC, Phillips India, Digit Insurance, Himalaya, Boost, Ubder, and many more. Hence, the veteran cricketer will add one more brand to his list.
#sportingbeyondpic.twitter.com/Z1kojD8lzJ
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) November 7, 2024
Taking to X, Kohli wrote:
"I am excited to announce a fresh start with Sporting Beyond, my new team, who have been working with me for a while now. The team at Sporting Beyond shares my goals and my values of transparency, integrity and a love for sport, in all its forms. This opens a new chapter for me as I look forward to my partnership with my new team, who will be working with me on all of my business interests."
Here's how the fans reacted to the post:
Ek pal ko laga retirement post to nahi hai
— Ganpat Teli (@gateposts_) November 7, 2024
Mujhe laga test se bhi retirement le liye
— isHaHaHa (@hajarkagalwa) November 7, 2024
Heart attack aane wala tha , phir socha bhaiya to long paragraph post karte hai
— sujay anand (@imsujayanand) November 7, 2024
Thank God this wasn't retirement Post pic.twitter.com/BnfLxQVJgp
— r/fervor (@r_fervor) November 7, 2024
G faat ke haat me agaya post dekh ke pic.twitter.com/B4SVWmYbyM
— (@Zimbu12_) November 7, 2024
1 min ke liye toh darr gaya tha main
retirement waala background colour hai yeh— Varnit Yadav (@varnityadav) November 7, 2024
At first I thought it was a retirement announcement
— Amit Shah (Parody) (@Motabhai012) November 7, 2024
Ngl, it was scary for a moment!
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) November 7, 2024
Virat Kohli targetting a return to form during the India tour of Australia:
Meanwhile, the former Indian skipper copped quite a lot of criticism for his shambolic batting performance during the series against New Zealand, managing only 93 runs in six innings. His failures against the Kiwis was one of the significant reasons behind India's humiliating 3-0 series defeat at home.
It was also the first series sweep suffered by India in red-ball cricket where at least three matches have been involved. The 3-0 series defeat has also ensured that India will need to win by a margin of 4-0 in the upcoming series Down Under to progress to the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Team India's squad for Australia tour: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed