This astrologer predicts overseas success for Kohli-led India

A la Paul the 'predicting' octopus in football, he has an uncanny knack of correctly predicting the future of cricketers in the sport, and claims to have followers who will vouch for the accuracy of his prophesies.

Narendra Bunde, a resident of Nagpur and a 'cricket astrologer' by profession, had "foretold" some months ago that Mahendra Singh Dhoni, now 36, would be playing in the 2019 World Cup in England, at a time when many questioned his place in the limited overs game.

Having got his predictions right about Sachin Tendulkar's comeback from tennis elbow injury, his Bharat Ratna honour, Sourav Ganguly's comeback, India's World Cup triumph in 2011, Bunde says that time has come for Virat Kohli's team to taste success abroad.

Besides, he says, with supreme confidence, Kohli will soon strike an endorsement deal unheard of in the history of Indian sports.

"I predicted about Dhoni when people were talking all sorts of things against him. Look at the results in the past four months. I can foresee that he will be very much there in the 2019 World Cup," Bunde tells PTI during a chat.

Regarding the current India captain, he says, "What Kohli will soon be signed up for is like what (Mark) Mascarenhas did with Sachin (Tendulkar). In fact, it's going to be bigger than that in today's age. Kohli's Venus is very strong at the moment and that is why he will do well abroad."

India are presently tour- ing South Africa and will travel to England in the summer followed by a tour of Australia.

"I mean it will be not as bad as in the past when the opposition would whitewash us. According to his stars and planetary positions, there are chances of positive results in places like New Zealand and Australia."

In the 1990s when Tendulkar was going great guns, Mascarenhas changed the game of celebrity management and turned the cricket icon into a multi-millionaire.