Putin to Virat: Please don’t give your love to Russia
Who sent Germany and Argentina — and with that, Lionel Messi — crashing out of the FIFA World Cup 2018? Football analysts can pass that question, because Internet memes have already supplied the answer: the ‘jinx king’ is none other than cricketer Virat Kohli.
Let’s consider the facts: Virat wore a German jersey when the World Cup began, and posted a photo of himself, wishing the team luck — and the four-time World Cup champions got eliminated in the first stage, a shocker not seen in 80 years. Next, Virat, 29, wished Messi on the latter’s 31st birthday, and hoped that his team would “qualify for round of 16” — and, although Argentina did qualify for the second stage, they lost to France in the very next round and the two-time World Cup champions went home holding hankies to their eyes.
Fans are, naturally, having a laugh. The Indian cricket captain remains an idol, but who can resist poking some good-spirited fun at the Virat jinx? Now the memesters have taken charge and requested Virat, speaking as Russian President Vladimir Putin, not to express his support for Russia. The host country plays Croatia this Saturday in a quarter-final match, and the ‘Virat jinx’ might be its undoing, if he sends his love.
However, users who’ve shared these memes tell us that it’s all in the spirit of ribbing — they really still love Virat.
“Virat knows that it’s just a joke, and I’m sure that he, too, will laugh along with some of the memes,” says Siddhartha Sarkar.
Another user, Shruti Bansal, says that she is a “big fan” of Virat, but couldn’t stop herself from sharing the memes, because they were “so funny”. She says, “I worship Virat like crazy, and I literally fight with anyone who says anything bad about him. But these memes are just so funny, because it’s helping people blame someone completely nonrelated to the sport for [a] team’s downfall. I think people who’re looking at these memes and sharing them know that these aren’t to be taken seriously.”