It took Odisha’s Pintu Behera 15 tattoos and 30 matches to finally get the attention of his cricketing god, Virat Kohli, at Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.
“I was speechless! A flood of emotions just gushed through my mind,” said a visibly ecstatic Pintu, describing the moment when he not only got to meet the Indian captain, but also got a hug from him. Kohli was taken aback to see the inked body of his fan, who was waiting to meet him after the press conference ahead of India’s first test match against South Africa.
Display of devotion
Belonging to a village near Behrampur in Ganjam district of Odisha, Pintu has inked a huge permanent tattoo of Kohli’s jersey No. 18 on his back, one of the 15 he has of his cricketing god.
He got the first one done in 2016 on his right chest with a face of Kohli. Since then, he has inked many milestone moments of Kohli’s cricketing journey on his body.
“He is no less than a god for me, and this is my way of showing respect to him,” said the soft spoken 31-year-old contractor by profession, who spent nearly a lakh to get the 15 tattoos inked.
Pintu says he had become a die-hard fan of Kohli after watching him severely decimate the aura around Lasith Malinga — considered to be ODI cricket’s most-feared bowler then.
“That was when I decided that I will do this. But back then, I didn’t have the money. So I started saving and got the tattoos done one by one,” he said. The die-hard Kohli fan had been relentlessly following his cricketing god in almost every match he played within India since 2016. All in the hope of getting to meet him one day!
Almost there
This year during an IPL match in Kolkata, he came very close to meet him.
“I was at the stand right next to the dressing room. He gave me a smile while returning back from a practice session in the ground,” Pintu recalled with joy.
Among the 15, Pintu has a tattoo of Kohli with a bowed head paying respect to Sachin Tendulkar after completion of his half century against Pakistan in Kolkata; one from Kohli’s U-19 World Cup days, a list of his awards of Arjuna and Khel Ratna and where he blows a kiss to his wife Anushka Sharma. And not just this... he also has one of Kohli’s coach Rajkumar Sharma with his words — ‘A coach is someone who can give correction without resentment’.
Responsible hubby
Already a popular name in his small town in Odisha, Pintu, however, has never let his obsession for Kohli and his cricket come in the way of his responsibilities as a father and a husband.
“My wife does, sometimes, get a bit mad at me for my travels and love for Kohli,” he chuckles.
Pintu’s ultimate dream is to see his cricket god hold the 2023 World Cup and get it inked as his next tattoo.
