Relentless rain ensures lights out for Kolkata Knight Riders

BENGALURU: The M Chinnaswamy Stadium is usually bathed in a hue of bold red and black. But on Saturday night, white jerseys — a replica of Virat Kohli’s No. 18 Test jersey, to be specific — dominated the stands. Recently, Kohli had said, “The love that I have received from the fans, I don’t think any silverware, or any trophy can come close to that.” That love was supposed to be on show at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s home game against Kolkata Knight Riders. Many tributes were planned for the former India skipper, who retired from Test cricket on Monday, but the grey skies, which opened a little over an hour before the toss, proved to be a dampener for more than one reason. The match being abandoned without a ball being bowled meant a watery grave for defending champions KKR’s campaign. While Ajinkya Rahane and his men were knocked out of the tournament, it is champagne on ice for the home side as they remain one win away from sealing the playoffs berth. RCB go on top of the table with 17 points from 12 outings. Forecast of rain notwithstanding, spectators made a beeline for the venue, with Kohli being the flavour of the evening. The white jerseys his fans donned had handwritten messages like, ‘end of an era’ and ‘in white he walked; in hearts he stayed’. There was never a flicker of hope of the rain stopping, yet fans refused to budge right till the end.