Beaten Kohli lashes out at Mumbai crowd

The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai is among the noisiest cricket grounds in the world. The iconic stadium that hosted the final match of the 2011 World Cup also has a reputation of being nasty to players and the opposition.

The crowds here have jeered senior Indian players Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag in the past and Virat Kohli on Saturday joined the long list of cricketers to express their displeasure at the crowd’s behaviour.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore captain was miffed at the way he was booed by fans after a controversial run out incident involving Ambati Rayudu during his team’s away match against the Mumbai Indians.

Kieron Pollard’s cover drive went straight to Kohli and Rayudu — who was at the non-striker’s end — collided with Vinay Kumar, the bowler, in an attempt to get back home. The impact resulted in Rayudu’s bat being lifted when the ball hit the stumps. The decision was referred to the third umpire, who declared the batsman out as Kohli did not withdraw the appeal.

The decision did not go down well with the capacity crowd, some of whom started calling him a ‘cheat’. Kohli was greeted with jeers even when he came out to bat and the crowd continued booing

I don’t know why they get so worked up during IPL. It is not the end of the world. And they forget that the players they are booing also play for their country –– Virat Kohli RCB captain

him at the time of presentation too.

A livid Kohli later hit out at the crowd. “As far as the crowd here is concerned, it has happened to a few players in the past as well. I don’t know why they get so worked up during IPL. It is not the end of the world. And they forget that the players they are booing for also play for their country,” he said after the match.

The batsman, who earlier was involved in a verbal duel with Gautam Gambhir in RCB’s home match, said that incidents of booing lead to hatred among the players.

“It is only creating hatred among the players,” he said.

“When I come back and play for India, they are going to cheer for me. It doesn’t work that way. You come to Bengaluru and you see how Indian players are appreciated,” he added.