In what could be a significant decision, fans will no longer be allowed to watch India’s practice sessions in the current Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series against Australia. This move follows after the Indian team were subjected to “rude” remarks from fans during a training session ahead of the second Test starting on Friday.
The practice session was opened to fans on Tuesday, and an enormous crowd thronged to watch the Indian team go about its business. If 70-odd fans had turned up to watch the Australian training session, around 3,000 had massed to watch the Indian players, causing chaotic scenes at the Adelaide practice facility, located adjacent to the nets.
“It was complete chaos. Nobody had imagined such a massive turnout at India’s session,” said a senior BCCI official on conditions of anonymity. There were also concerns regarding player comfort and because of that, a scheduled fans’ day in Sydney was also cancelled ahead of the fifth Test. The official made it clear that players were perturbed by the indecent comments during practice.
Witnesses said fans forced players such as Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant to hit sixes besides making unsavory comments over the fitness of another. “The crowd might have intimidated Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill because so many people were inside. Some were doing live social media streaming, shouting loudly just as the batter got ready to face the ball,” an eyewitness recounted.
Of these, one asked a player at least five times to say hello to him in Gujarati, while another abused a cricketer with body-shaming comments. The action now moves to Adelaide for a day-night Test, after which the teams will face off in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney.
