Young batting sensation from Kerala Mohammad Azharuddeen was one of the many cricketers Royal Challengers Bangalore roped in during the IPL 2021 auction. Former cricketers and experts predicted the youngster to get a team and it did happen. Now, the cricketer has revealed how Virat Kohli welcomed him to the team.

Meanwhile, it was during the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy when Mohammad Azharuddeen grabbed the eyeballs of everyone with his blistering knocks. He slammed 214 runs in five matches for Kerala at 53.50 by maintaining a strike rate of 194.50. The 26-year old particularly grabbed headlines by hammering a 54-ball unbeaten 137 against Mumbai.

Virat Kohli messaged me soon after the auction – Mohammad Azharuddeen

Although he was expected to trigger a bidding war, Royal Challengers Bangalore were the sole bidder and roped him for his base price at ₹20 lakhs. Mohammad Azharuddeen revealed that a couple of minutes after the auction, he received a message from Virat Kohli, who welcomed him to the franchise and wished him best of luck.

The Kerala-born cricketer also added that it turned out to be an emotional moment for him and did not expect the Indian captain to text him like that.

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“Two minutes after the auction, Virat bhai messaged me saying, ‘Welcome to RCB, all the best. Virat here.’ The message made me very emotional. It’s not something I could have even dreamt of, that he’d message,” Azharuddeen told Sportskeeda.

Mohammad Azharuddeen further stated that he always dreamt of playing alongside Virat Kohli and he looks up to him as an icon. He seemed extremely excited to share the dressing room with Kohli when IPL 2021 begins in a couple of months’ time.

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“It is something I’m very happy about. Virat bhai is someone I look at as a cricket icon. It has always been a dream of mine to play with Virat bhai. I’m very excited and very happy to be on the same team as him,” he added.