World Cup 2023: Katrina Kaif calls Virat Kohli “inspiration” ahead of final

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 18 (ANI): Actor Katrina Kaif on Saturday heaped praises on her “lovely neighbor’ star cricketer Virat Kohli ahead of the India vs Australia World Cup 2023 final.

Katrina conducted an “Ask Me Anything” session where a fan asked her to say something about Virat Kohli.

She shared an image of Kohli, where he is seen raising his finger and thanking the heavens after bringing up a scintillating century.

Sharing the picture, she wrote, “Superstar, Inspiration…and the most lovely neighbor.”

Coming to India’s match, the Men in Blue will lock horns with Australia on Sunday in Ahmedabad.

This will be a 20-year-old repeat clash of 2003 World Cup Final when the two cricket-enthusiast nations faced each other and India will be aiming to reverse the result of the last encounter.

India stormed into the finals after beating New Zealand by 70 runs at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The star performer for India in the match was Mohammad Shami with seven-wicket haul.

India posted a solid total riding on the hundreds of Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and valuable knocks by Rohit Sharma, Shubhman Gill and KL Rahul.

Australia became the second finalist after defeating South Africa by three wickets in a thrilling contest at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday.

Virat is the tournament’s leading run-scorer so far. In 10 matches, he has scored 711 runs at an average of over 101, with three centuries and five fifties. He now has the most runs in a single World Cup edition and is also the only player to have smashed 50 ODI centuries. With these two records and an undefeated streak under his belt, Virat’s morale will surely be high and will be keen to deliver against Australia.

Virat often saves his best for games against Australia and for big clashes. In 48 clashes against Aussies, he has scored 2,313 runs at an average of 53.79, with eight centuries and 13 fifties in 46 innings. It would not be surprising if Virat once again takes a giant jump in front of over 1 lakh fans at the stadium after scoring a match-winning century or breaks another record against the mighty Aussies.

Meanwhile, Katrina is basking in the success of ‘Tiger 3’.

Helmed by Maneesh Sharma, ‘Tiger 3’ was released on Diwali. The film has entered the Rs 300 crore club at the global box office.

On this huge success of the film, Katrina said, ” feel extremely happy. I think being able to entertain the audience is what gives us the most joy, what gives me the most joy and the audience’s love is what allows us to keep making the Tiger franchise. And that’s a big passion, I think for all of us. It’s one of my most loved films. It’s so dear to my heart. And I think it’s all now become a big part of our lives.”

Tiger 3 is the third instalment in the Tiger franchise. The film also has a cameo appearance by Shah Rukh Khan and a post-credit scene featuring Hrithik Roshan.

Just like the two previous instalments – Ek Tha Tiger and Tiger Zinda Hai – the film focuses on a new mission involving RAW agent Tiger (Salman) and ISI agent Zoya (Katrina).

‘Tiger 3’ is produced by Aditya Chopra.

She also has ‘Merry Christmas’ in her pipeline. The film is helmed by Sriram Raghavan and also features Vijay Sethupathi.