A routine SIM card purchase turned into an unexpected adventure for a young man from Gariaband, who discovered he had been given the old phone number of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Rajat Patidar, and soon found himself receiving calls from Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and other cricketers.

According to Indian media, 21-year-old Manish Basi bought a SIM card from a small mobile store in Devbhog at the end of June. While setting up his WhatsApp account, his friend noticed that the profile picture was of Rajat Patidar, but they did not pay much attention to it. Soon after, Manish began receiving calls from people claiming to be Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Yash Dayal, and other RCB players.

This continued for two weeks until Patidar realised he could not access his WhatsApp account and filed a complaint with the Madhya Pradesh cyber cell. Investigations revealed that, under company policy, many inactive accounts for six months had been reassigned to a new customer. Police later returned the number to Patidar.

Patidar, who recently led RCB to their first-ever IPL title, is a prominent batsman from Madhya Pradesh.