Twitter reacts to furious Virat Kohli lambasting crowd for cheering as Rishabh Pant drops Evin Lewis

Something that has become a prominent feature in all of India’s limited-over matches - or at least the matches in which Rishabh Pant features in - is the crowd cheering for the wicket-keeper’s goof-ups by chanting “Dhoni, Dhoni”. This was seen in, both, the South Africa and the Bangladesh series and it was only prior to this series that skipper Virat Kohli expressed his displeasure over the crowd doing what they did, terming it ‘disrespectful’ to Pant. 

And with Kerala being the home of another wicket-keeper, Sanju Samson, the crowd were handed disappointing news ahead of the match-up when they learnt that their homeboy wasn’t going to feature. Team India continued to be disappointing on the field, with Washington Sundar dropping Lendl Simmons in the fifth over, but what transpired two balls after Sundar’s drop left a bitter taste in the mouth of every Indian player and fan, specifically Kohli.

As Lewis gave himself ample room to try and cut a Bhuvneshwar Kumar knuckle-ball, he got a thick outside-edge which flew to the keeper. Pant, who was initially leaning towards the leg-side, was partially wrong-footed and had to dive to his left to catch the ball. Dive to the left and catch the ball he did, but to his dismay, as his elbows hit the ground, the ball popped out of his hand, resulting in a dropped catch.

But what followed next shocked one and all. As instead of being disappointed, the crowd roared loud, mocking Pant for the dropped catch. The distasteful reaction from the crowd clearly irked Kohli, who looked at them in disbelief and shook his head, indicating his displeasure at their gesture. Whilst the crowd did do it to show their love for Samson and not their hate for Pant, the cheer does come off as a very detestable reaction, something that is extremely disrespectful to the player in the firing line.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the incident:

Crowd mocked him again

Kohli was disappointed with the fans!

That's harsh!

More misery for Pant!

There are some positives too!