Virat Kohli miffed with crowd for chanting Sanju Samson's name after Rishabh Pant dropped a catch in the second T20I

India couldn’t defend their total of 170 in Thiruvananthapuram as the two-time defending world champions – riding on the back of an imperious batting performance- finally broke the shackles of seven consecutive defeats in the shortest format of the game against the Men in Blue.

While India’s bowling- whether it is fast bowling or the spinners- wasn’t really up to the mark and matters accentuated to the hilt courtsey his sloppy outfielding and dismal catching. India could have had both Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis in the fifth over of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, had both Washington Sundar and Rishabh Pant took their respective catches.

Matters escalated on the fourth ball of the fifth over when Rishabh Pant, after having successfully gobbled Evin Lewis, proceeded to shell it as he fell to the ground, and as has been the norm these days- every time Pant makes a mistake people go on a raucous chanting Sanju Samson’s name. The Kerala-born batsman’s name started to do the rounds across the ground. And, naturally, the Indian captain wasn’t chuffed about it. Kohli then decided to have a few words with the fans as he turned back to express his displeasure.

Virat Kohli had earlier called on for the crowd to be patient with the young wicket-keeper

Rishabh Pant has been under scrutiny for some time now. Courtesy his poor form both in front as well as behind the stumps, the fans have run out of patience with the southpaw and have been calling for the inclusion of Sanju Samson in the set-up. Pant, however, had a decent day with the bat as he scored an unbeaten knock of 33 runs off 22 balls.

Skipper Kohli, during his pre-series conference, had called on for the crowd to be patient with the southpaw. The crowd has often drawn an analogy between Pant and former Indian skipper and wicket-keeper MS Dhoni. 

“We certainly believe in Rishabh’s ability. But I think it’s a collective responsibility of everyone around as well to give that player some space to do well. If he misses a chance, people can’t shout MS’ (Dhoni) name in the stadium as well.”

It’s not respectful because no player would like that to happen. You are playing in your own country and you should get support rather than always thinking what mistake this guy is gonna make. No one wants to be in that position,” Kohli had said.

Note: The story was previously about the crowd chanting MS Dhoni’s name. But later we modified it after knowing that the crowd was chanting the local boy Sanju Samson’s name.

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