Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) Captain Rajat Patidar, Virt Kohli. , Photo Credit: Murali Kumar K
The man in Nedescript Madagaon in the Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband district is in the seventh heaven after receiving calls from cricket legends Virt Kohli and AB de Villiers, all thanks to the SIM card used by Indian cricket Rajat Patidar, who revived for some time after he was reacted by service provider.
The twenty-one Manish Bisi and his friend Khemraj first thought they were joke calls, due to the utterly unlikely to the chain of events, but the reality was shining when Patidar himself was at the other end.
Tryst with immediate glory began on June 28, when Manish, son of farmer Gajendra Bisi, bought a new Jio Sim from a mobile shop in Deobhog, about 8 kilometers from his village.
When Khemraj helped to set WhatsApp on the new SIM, the imaging picture was Patidar, a rising star that Captain Royal Challengers Bengalur (RCB) in the IPL 2025 season.
While the duo initially rejected it as a defect, Kohli, De Villiers and Yash Dayal were soon impressed, although they both turned to realistic by believed that they were all part of a sophisticated joke playing friends.
In fact, the duo even played, Khemraj claimed.
The story turned to the head when Patidar himself called the zealous “brother, please return my SIM”. Manish and Khemraj still believed it was a joke before realizing the seriousness of Patidar’s tone when he spoke of sending the police to solve the matter.
The police team arrived a few minutes later and at any assumption that it was a joke.
Representative of police director Gariaband Non Sinha said that the SIM was deactivated according to telecommunications policy after 90 days of inactivity and was assigned to a new customer who became Manish in this case.
“Manish actually received calls from crickets who were in contact with Rajat Patidar. Patidar reported the cyber cell Madhya Pradesh that his number was assigned to someone else and asked him to back,” she said.
MP Cyber Cell contacted Gariaband to the police, who spoke to Manish and his family and his consent was recently returned to Patidar, the SP reported.
“There was no legal problem or error on the part of someone. This was simply the result of standard telecommunications procedures,” Sinha added.
Meanwhile, for Manish, Khemraj and their families, experience was like “something of the movie”.
Khemraj, a keen fan of Kohl, said excitedly, “I never imagined that one day I was talking to Virat Kohl, also from our village. When he called AB de Villiers, he spoke in English. We didn’t understand the word, but we were so excited.” “When Manish used to call, he gave me a phone. The caller who identified himself as a virat Kohli and Yash Dayal asked us why we were using Patidar’s number. We explained to them that we bought a new SIM and this is our number,” Khemraj added.
The villagers are enthusiastic because most people here are RCB fans and talk to legends like Kohli and De Villiers, there is something that cannot be described and even now seems like a dream, Manis’s brother Deshbandh Bisi.
“Even though it was all because of the mix, these conversations came out of absolute happiness.
Published – August 10, 2025 06:08
