India vs New Zealand: Crowd chants 'Pakistan Murdabad' during 1st day's play in Kanpur

International cricket is back in India after a log time thanks to COVID-19 breakout which is still affecting normal life across the world. New Zealand is currently on a tour to India and even the fans are allowed back to the stadiums. The T20I series witnessed grounds filling to its capacity in all three matches. The fans flocked the Green Park stadium in Kanpur as well on the opening day with India opting to bat first.

Fans chanting their favourite players’ name is normal and that continued in Kanpur as well during the first session of play. However, another of those chants hogged the limelight when a certain section of fans shouted against Pakistan, India’s arch-rivals, in the pre-lunch session.

The incident happened in the first hour of day’s play during the sixth over of the innings itself when Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill were busy surviving the new ball. The fans chanted ‘Pakistan Murdabad’ even as a few were enjoying the action in the middle. India and Pakistan have not played bilateral cricket against each other since 2012 due to strained relations between the two countries and face only in ICC events.

The fans of the two teams are always at the loggerheads especially on social media, taking a dig at each other’s players and teams.

Here’s the video:

Shubman Gill scores a fifty for India

As far as the match is concerned, India started decently after opting to bat first. They lost Mayank Agarwal early thanks to Kyle Jamieson, however, Shubman Gill stood strong in the middle to stitch a partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara. The duo added 61 runs for the second wicket with Gill hitting a spectacular half-century with five fours and a six to his name.

However, soon after lunch Kyle Jamieson breached his defence to castle him on 52. India will be hoping to post a big total on the board in the first innings with the pitch expected to turn as the game progresses.