Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Rajat Patidar got caught in a bizarre chain of events involving his previous phone number and a couple of cricket fans from Chhattisgarh as they revealed speaking to Virat Kohli. Although it initially appeared like a routine telecom matter, the matter escalated slightly quickly, forcing the RCB star to take help from the police force.
As per NDTV, it all began on June 28 when a boy named Manish from Gariaband district in Chhattisgarh purchased the number from the telecom provider what previously was Patidar. With the number being inactive for the previous 90 days, the telecom provider had assigned to some other person. Manish's friend Khemraj bizarrely saw Patidar's photo appearing on the new Whatsapp number activated after inserting the Jio SIM Card.
Soon after, the number started receiving calls from prominent personalities like Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers as they attempted to contact the RCB captain as Manish and Khemraj hilariously introduced themselves as MS Dhoni, unaware it was actually Patidar's number. On July 15, Patidar himself spoke to Manish and said, as reported by NDTV, "Bhai, I'm Rajat Patidar."
After comically telling again "And we're MS Dhoni", Patidar informed them that he will reach out to the police to reclaim his number, citing that it had important contacts. Accordingly, the cops reached out to Manish, who co-operated with the officials and returned the SIM to its rightful owner. As per NDTV, Khemraj had said:
"I got to speak to Kohli because of a wrong number. My life's goal is complete."
Rajat Patidar strikes gold in his debut season as captain
Meanwhile, Patidar, who had replaced Faf du Plessis as the captain of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of IPL 2025, led the franchise to their first title. Playing their fourth final in history, the Bengaluru-based franchise finally broke the jinx of not winning the crown and lifted it by beating Punjab Kings in the decider.
The 32-year-old finished the tournament with 312 runs in 15 matches alongside a strike rate of over 140 as RCB won the final by six runs.
