The IPL has turned dreams into reality for several youngsters over the years. Budding cricketers have found their feet and gone on to achieve big things on and off the field. However, where the IPL stands out head and shoulders above the rest of the T20 leagues in the world is its connection with Bollywood. The Indian film industry and the Indian cricket fraternity are no stranger to each other but nothing brings these two elements together quite like the IPL.
Ask Rahul Tripathi, who besides playing a match-winning knock for Kolkata Knight Riders Wednesday night against Chennai Super Kings, had one of his dreams come true. Tripathi’s efforts with the bat not only fetched him applauds from former and current cricketers, but even King Khan himself. Shahrukh Khan, co-owner of KKR was in the stands watching as one of his biggest fans Tripathi played an innings he will never forget.
The adulation was such that when Tripathi was collecting his Player-of-the-Match Awarded, SRK, from the stands shouted an epic line that has gone on to define his career, “Rahul, naam toh suna hoga,” in context to the ‘Rahul’ who was collecting his award from Harsha Bhogle. The video of SRH delivering his dialogue at the highest pitch of his voice went viral on social media.
However, moments after, KKR posted another short clip, where Dinesh Karthik seems to be going his way around the side-screen, when Tripathi came from behind and patted his captain on the back. Karthik then put his hands around Tripathi’s shoulder and introduced him to Shah Rukh as his “Biggest fan ever”.
Tripathi’s knock of 81 held the KKR innings together. Used as a lower-order batsman in the previous games, the team management promoted Tripathi to open the innings in place of Sunil Narine and the batsmen did not disappoint, hitting eight fours and three sixes during his match-winning knock.
Source: IPLT20.com