Ranji Trophy 2018-19: Chinnaswamy crowd chants 'cheater' as Cheteshwar Pujara walks in to bat

The ongoing semi-final clash of the Ranji Trophy season between Karnataka and Saurashtra is currently in progress at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. The home side is bossing the game after setting the target of 279 runs for the opposition. The fourth day’s play is in progress at the moment and Saurashtra have already lost three wickets in the pursuit of the steep chase. Cheteshwar Pujara is batting in the middle and the team will hope for him to make the difference.

However, the crowd at the stadium still doesn’t seem to have got over the fact that Pujara didn’t walk off despite edging the ball in the first innings. When Saurashtra’s second wicket fell, India’s number three batsmen walked in even as the crowd called him ‘Cheater’. The chants of the same continued for a while. Clearly, the supporters of the Karnataka team aren’t pleased with Pujara and his heroics in Australia are forgotten very soon.

To add to the agony of Karnataka, the same incident occurred again in the second innings when Pujara was on 29 and this time, Vinay Kumar was furious. Moreover, he went on to score an unbeaten century and put Saurashtra on the cusp of a historic victory.

Here’s the video:

pic.twitter.com/YepXpo5JBS

— Mushfiqur Fan (@NaaginDance) January 27, 2019

#CheaterPujara
Crowd booing Pujara as cheater.@cheteshwar1 knowing your value 😏😏 You will be never in our #Karnataka people heart. @cricbuzz @cricketcomau @Fantasy11App @RCBTweets @FoxCricket @MitchJohnson398@ProfDeano pic.twitter.com/wvb4P8OIEU

— Uday Kumar (@Uday__uppi) January 27, 2019

The incident

The incident took place on the second day of the match in the first innings when Cheteshwar Pujara had gloved a threatening delivery from Abhimanyu Mithun. The opponents started to celebrate but the batsman didn’t leave his crease thanks to the umpire who didn’t hear the edge.

Even the Karnataka players questioned Pujara for not walking off. Having said that, Pujara was fine within his own rights in not walking as the on-field umpire gave him not out and eventually went on to score 45 runs. Pujara doesn’t let the outside things affect him and clearly, he will be unfazed with the crowd calling him a cheater.

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