Indian Cricketers Who Were Booed By The Fans In The Stadium

Cricket in India is a religion. It is a place where cricketers are treated as demi-gods. From airports to malls to stadiums, fans throng in large numbers just to catch a glimpse of their favorite hero.

But there has been a plethora of instances in the past where those very fans have turned on their favorite cricketers, booing them incessantly.

Here’s a look at such instances in the past where Indian cricketers were booed by fans in the stadium-

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is one of the most loved cricketers in the country in the current era. The kind of reception that the Indian captain gets, no matter where he plays, is unparalleled.

But during the 2013 edition of the Indian Premier League saw a rare instance when the fans turned on the Indian superstar. It all happened when Kohli’s direct hit proceeded to run out Ambati Rayudu, whose bat was in the air after having collided with RCB bowler Vinay Kumar.

Chants of ‘Cheater Kohli’ started to reverberate across the Wankhede Stadium, and Virat, after the game, did not mince his words on what he thought of the crowd.

“I don’t know what is wrong with people in this venue. It feels a bit weird because at the end of the day you play for India and you don’t come here to be hated,” he said after the game.

Next year, during another MI-RCB game, one that is infamous for the ugly altercation between Mitchell Starc and Kieron Pollard, the Wankhede crowd proceeded to chant ‘Anuskha’.

Yuvraj Singh

Another cricketer who has had an indifferent relationship with the Mumbai crowd is swashbuckling left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh.

Yuvraj was always at the receiving end from the Mumbai fans during his two-decade-long career. It all started during the 2001 Ranji Trophy quarter-final where Yuvraj Singh scored a brilliant 135 to guide Punjab to victory against the domestic heavyweights.

Then in 2005, during that controversial ODI against South Africa at the Eden Gardens, Yuvi was involved in a heated verbal altercation with a fan, on his way to the pavilion after having registered a low score.

Three years later, Yuvraj Singh celebrated aggressively after sealing a 1-run win over Mumbai Indians at Wankhede, even as the crowd booed him and other Indian players of KXIP.

The crowd went as far as calling Yuvraj’s rumoured girlfriend at the time, Deepika Padukone as his sister.

Manoj Prabhakar

Imagine, getting booed at your home ground! Former Indian all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar had to go through that ignominy in what turned to be his final international outing.

It all happened during the 1996 group-stage encounter between India and Sri Lanka where a rampaging Sanath Jayasuriya took Prabhakar and the other Indian bowlers to the cleaners.

In what was a breathtaking assault, Prabhakar conceded 33 runs in his first two overs. In his second spell, he resorted to bowling two overs of off-spin. Prabhakar was soon booed out of the ground. He announced his retirement shortly afterwards.

MS Dhoni

On the 14th of July, 2018, MS Dhoni became the fourth Indian batsman to scale Mount.10000 runs in One-day International cricket. But he wasn’t subjected to thundering applause from the Lord’s crowd. In fact, he was incessantly booed.

The reason: Dhoni’s painstaking, intentness 59-ball 37 in which he scored just two boundaries, when India needed quite a number of them, given the stiff target.

A year later, Dhoni was once again booed by the crowd for his another ‘strange’ knock under the same circumstances and against the same opposition.

Sunil Gavaskar

Imagine, Rohit Sharma plays a rash shot in a tightly contested game and then he gets dropped from the next match. Unthinkable, right?

Back in 1984, Kapil Dev, India’s World Cup-winning captain and one of the finest all-rounders in history, was dropped for playing a ‘rash’ shot during the Delhi Test match against England.

The next Test was in Kolkata and the Eden Gardens crowd made sure that they let the then captain Sunil Gavaskar know what they thought of that decision.

What added further fuel to fire was that Gavaskar delayed the declaration as Ravi Shastri and Mohammad Azharuddin accumulated 214 runs for the 5th wicket at less than two runs per over.

A section of Indian crowd close to the home sides’ dressing room started chanting “Gavaskar down, Gavaskar out” and the opening batsman was hit by fruits when he eventually declared and took the field.

Three years later, Gavaskar was once again booed out of the field, this time at his home venue, post his dismissal against England in the World Cup semi-final.

Sachin Tendulkar

2006 has got to be one of the worst years in the celebrated career of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar. It was a year of off and on-field turmoil in Indian cricket and Tendulkar’s tryst with injuries and mediocre returns with the bat was a glaring reflection of it.

It all came to a head during the third and final Test between India and England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Chasing 400 to win on the final day, India needed a big effort from the champion batsman but Sachin struggled throughout his 34-minute stay at the crease before finally getting dismissed for a 21-ball 1.

A disappointed Sachin hobbled off the crease where was greeted to booes, with a section of the crowd shouting ‘ENDulkar’

Rahul Dravid

21 years after Sunil Gavaskar was booed by the Eden Gardens crowd dor dropping Kapil Dev, another Indian captain was booed by the passionate Kolkata crowd and this time, it was for their hometown hero, former captain Sourav Ganguly.

Ganguly was stripped of his leadership role and dropped from the side altogether post his fallout with Greg Chappell and when the Indian team travelled to Kolkata to play an ODI against South Africa, tempers were sure to flare to the hilt.

The Eden Gardens crowd, angered by the omission of Ganguly, cheered the South Africans and booed the captain Rahul Dravid as India suffered a crushing 10-wicket defeat.

Later in the press-conference, Dravid reckoned that he was not the first Indian captain to get booed nor will he be the last.

“That is life and you’ve got to deal with it,” Dravid said in a press conference after. I’m playing for India since the past 10 years and have received a lot of cheers and adulation. You get jeers as well when you don’t perform but you have to deal with it and move on,” said Dravid.

Also Read: Top 5 Most Memorable ODIs In The Past 25 Years