To watch Virat Kohli bat, man pawns mom’s jewellery

Bhubaneswar: He is a private bus ticket conductor and earns about Rs 300-Rs 400 a day. But that does not deter the 33-year-old Nikash Kanhar coming from Odisha’s tribal dominated Kandhamal district to watch his hero — Indian Skipper Virat Kohli — in action.

So recently he mortgaged his mother’s gold jewellery to travel to Mohali to watch the third Test match between India and England which concluded in Mohali on Tuesday with India snatching a 8-wicket victory.

“I mortgaged my mother’s jewellery and got Rs 25,000. Out of this, I spent Rs 11,000 in air tickets,” Nikash Kanhar was quoted as saying to reporters in Mohali on Tuesday.

With his body painted in tri-color and Virat and his jersey number 18 scribbled on it, Nikash was seen cheering in Mohali for the Indian team as well as the Indian Test captain.

Asked if he faced opposition from family, the sports enthusiast was candid enough to admit that his parents called him “pagal”(mad). “My mother calls me mad and my father keeps shouting at me. I love to watch Virat play and would go to Chennai from here,” he added.

After getting media attention, the youth has added his name to the list of Sachin Tendulkar fan Sudhir, Dhoni fan Ram Babu and the polio-affected Dharamveer etc. Nikash’s father is a vegetable vendor and does odd jobs to make ends meet.