Cricket lovers have visual treat in Vizag as Ro-Ko and Jaiswal fire on all cylinders

The much-awaited India-South Africa ODI in Visakhapatnam on Saturday was a visual treat for all cricket lovers who thronged the Dr. YSR ACA-VDCA International Stadium as the stellar performances of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma led to the comfortable win for Team India, with the century of young gun Yashasvi Jaiswal being the cherry on top.

Although the city has hosted several international matches and IPL games this year, this fixture carried a unique excitement as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma returned to the Team India for the onedayer series with South Africa.

Even though officials announced that stadium gates would open at 10.30 a.m., fans began arriving as early as 6.30 a.m., many hoping to secure good seats on a first-come, first-served basis.

By 10 a.m., every entrance gate of the stadium had long queues. Almost all the seats were occupied by 11 a.m., well ahead before the toss.

The road stretch from Yendada to PM Palem bustled with stalls selling caps, T-shirts, Indian flags, and other merchandise. T-shirts, mostly featuring Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, were priced between ₹100 and ₹200.

A sea of blue descended upon the stadium as the fans sported Team India jerseys. Not only from Andhra Pradesh, cricket lovers from Odisha, West Bengal and Telangana also arrived in the city for the match.

The stadium witnessed several electric moments, especially whenever Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma came into action. The stands erupted with chants of ‘Kohli! Kohli! Kohli!’, when he came to bat and each time the former India Captain approached the boundary line during fielding. Fans captured Rohit’s pull shots, Kohli’s sixes, Jaiswal’s century celebrations in their mobile phones and shared on the social media.

Wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock also received a standing ovation from the audience after his century and dismissal. There was a huge round of applause when Rohit reached 20,000 International runs in the 14^th over of Indian batting.

“It is true that we came only for Rohit and Virat. People believe Ro-Ko will continue playing until the 2027 World Cup. We are not sure if there will be more ODIs in Vizag. So we did not want to miss this opportunity,” said P.S. Chandrasekhar Reddy and his wife Sruthi from Palasa.

A fan of Virat, N. Ravi Kumar said he expected the third consecutive century from Kohli. “Had 50 to 60 more runs on the board for the win, Virat would have achieved it. He was in great touch today. Jaiswal and Rohit also played brilliantly,” he said.

Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) president Kesineni Sivanath and secretary Sana Satish Babu felicitated the former Captains and senior players Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Head Coach Gautam Gambhir beafore the match.