RAIPUR: Manish Bisi, 21, a resident of Madagon in Chhattisgar’s Gariaband district, began receiving calls from cricketers like Virat Kohli, A.B. de Villiers and Yash Dayal with conversations lasting between 30 seconds and one minute. Assuming they were prank calls, he and his friends responded sarcastically to the callers. “When the caller on the other end identified himself as Virat Kohli, we used to respond saying we were M.S. Dhoni,” recalled Manish’s friend Khemraj. At first, they thought these were prank calls, inspired by their friends. The cricketers were calling the number saved in their phone directories as that of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Rajat Patidar. The light-hearted exchanges continued until July 25, when Patidar himself called the number, politely asking Manish to return the SIM card. Manish, still thinking it was a prank, introduced himself to Patidar as “Rohit Sharma,” prompting the RCB captain to seek the intervention of the Madhya Pradesh cyber cell. Bisi, son of farmer Gajendra Bisi, purchased the SIM card from a mobile shop in Deobhog, around 8 km from his village It turned out that the number did indeed belong to Patidar. However, the SIM was not active for 90 days and was reassigned to Bisi on June 28. Patidar, apparently, had no idea it had been issued to someone else. Manish and Khemraj still believed it was a prank before realising the seriousness in Patidar’s tone when he spoke about sending police to solve the matter. A police team arrived some minutes later, putting a lid on any assumptions that it was a prank. Shortly after activation, Manish noticed Patidar’s photograph as the WhatsApp profile image linked to the number, a remnant of its previous ownership, but he did not attach much importance to it. “The MP cyber cell contacted us, seeking help to resolve the matter amicably and restore the SIM to Patidar. The SIM was returned by Manish and sent to Patidar,” said Deobhog police station in-charge Faizul Shah Hoda. The villagers were astonished to learn the calls had indeed been genuine. “We will cherish our moments talking to the famous cricketers, although unknowingly, for the rest of our lives,” said Manish, a die-hard fan of Virat Kohli. “I hope Patidar will call me one day,” he added. Gariaband deputy superintendent of police Neha Sinha said the SIM had been deactivated as per telecom policy after 90 days of inactivity and was reassigned to a new customer, which in this case happened to be Manish. For Manish, Khemraj, and their families, the experience has been like “something out of a film”. Khemraj, an ardent Kohli fan, said: “I never imagined I would speak to Virat Kohli one day, and that too from our village. When A.B. de Villiers called, he spoke in English. We couldn’t understand a word, but we were so thrilled.” “When Manish used to get calls, he would hand over the phone to me. The callers who identified themselves as Virat Kohli and Yash Dayal asked us why we were using Patidar’s number. We explained to them we had bought a new SIM and this is our number,” Khemraj added. The villagers are overjoyed because most people here are RCB fans and talking to legends like Kohli and de Villiers is something that cannot be described and even now seems like a dream, said Manish’s brother Deshbandhu Bisi. “Even if it was all due to a mix-up, these conversations happened out of sheer luck. People just dream of seeing them, we got to speak to them,” Deshbandhu gushed.
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