Southampton: As India are set to play their opening game tomorrow (June 5) against South Africa at the ICC World Cup 2019, captain Virat Kohli has received wishes from a German football star, who donned Team India blue jersey while sending his message.

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German forward Thomas Muller took to the micro-blogging site Twitter to support Kohli and Team India. “I wish all participants of the Cricket #WorldCup2019 good luck & thrilling matches. Especially I cross my fingers for @imVkohli, the captain of the Indian team. He`s a fan of @DFB_Team and supported it multiple times in the past 🏏✊😃 #Cricket #GermanyCheersForIndia #esmuellert (sic),” he wrote.

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Kohli responded to Muller’s tweet as he wrote, “Thank you Thomas!” The Indian skipper has been an ardent football fan. He has supported the German national team and recently he met England and Tottenham Hotspur skipper Harry Kane after landing in the United Kingdom for World Cup.

In 2014, Kohli had become a co-owner of FC Goa franchise which plays in the Indian Super League (ISL) football tournament. At the time, he had said he wanted football to grow in the country.

"Some might think I am pretty young to do something like this or it is a step taken too early, but nothing is never too early. If you believe in something, you have to put your 100% commitment to it, and I decided to do it because I want football to grow in India.

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Ahead of India’s contest against the Proteas, the team faced a media boycott on Monday (June 3) from the travelling Indian journalists.

"Cricket is not going to last forever so, whenever I am done, whenever I retire, I am keeping all my options open. It is something that excited me a lot and I tried to go ahead with it," he had said.