"It's a sign of..." - Harbhajan Singh's bold take on Virat Kohli's gesture amid Hardik Pandya's booing

Indian batting stalwart Virat Kohli came in support of Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya when the former asked the crowd at the Wankhede stadium to stop booing the latter. This incident unfolded during Royal Challengers Bengaluru's away game against MI wherein the visitors lost the match in a one-sided affair by 7 wickets. RCB are now winless in all of their previous 4 matches and have lost 5 out of their first 6 games. 

Last night was just another shambolic performance put up by the RCB and it would be fair to say that it is their bowling department that let them down badly. Despite posting 197 as the target through the efforts of Faf du Plessis, Rajat Patidar, and Dinesh Karthik, their bowling unit led by Mohammed Siraj, had an economy rate of more than 10 and the MI batters made full use of the poor bowling. RCB's most dependable batter Virat Kohli could not get going and that is another reason why the team could not touch the 200 mark. 

Senior MI pacer Jasprit Bumrah got rid of Virat Kohli in just the 3rd over of the match through a brilliant set-up when the latter was at 3 runs. Had Kohli stuck on with du Plessis and then Patidar among others had played the way they did, then RCB would have definitely posted more than 200. At this point in time, it seems as if that is the only option left for the South Indian franchise, and this point was also raised by du Plessis in the post-match. 

What did Harbhajan Singh say about Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya? 

While speaking in the post-match analysis show of Star Sports, Harbhajan Singh highlighted the true sportsmanship gesture shown by Virat Kohli in terms of extending support to the under-fire Hardik Pandya. The all-rounder, ever since his return to the 5-time champions as captain, was being brutally trolled on social media and was constantly being booed by fans inside the stadium. Regardless of the venue, the crowd had made it a habit of jeering Pandya. 

Until last night, no other player from opposing teams or players of his own team asked the crowd to slow down with their booing. But it was the former RCB captain Virat Kohli, who while fielding in the 2nd innings at Wankhede, made an appeal to the crowd to stop jeering their own captain. Just as Kohli did so, Pandya smacked a six in the next ball and the crowd reversed their boos to loud cheers. Chants of "Hardik-Hardik" were also heard. 

Taking note of that gesture, Harbhajan Singh appreciated Virat Kohli and called him a very good sportsman. "The way Virat Kohli supported Hardik Pandya and told the crowd not to boo Hardik & cheer for him, it is a sign of a Great player and a very very good Sportsman," Harbhajan Singh said via Star Sports.

Hyderabad await Bengaluru up next 

If the 2024 season was going tough for RCB, then it is going to become even more difficult as their next opponents are Pat Cummins' Sunrisers Hyderabad. The Orange Army have won their last two games against Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings and they will be aiming for nothing less than 2 points on Monday, April 15.