Young wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant was benched for India's first four games of the ongoing T20 World Cup. He then finally got his chance to feature as he was included in the playing XI against Zimbabwe, ahead of Dinesh Karthik. Pant, however, failed to stamp his authority, scoring just three runs. Amid lack of game time, a video has gone viral on social media where fans can be seen teasing Pant by taking Indian actress Urvashi Rautela's name.
In the video, Pant can be seen walking near the boundary line, while the fans try to provocate him by taking Urvashi's name.
The video, however, hasn't gone down well with some of the fans, who took to Twitter to slam people for treating "cricketers like commodity".
Here's how Twitter reacted:
"Wahiyat log. Looks like Virat's message of not treating cricketers like commodity has fallen on deaf ears," a user tweeted.
"Pant should have complained abt these guys and should have made them pay the fine," another fan tweeted.
"Aage bhi aisa hota rhega.uske sath..agar complain ni kiya to (This will continue to happen if he doesn't file a complain)," another user tweeted.
"TBH it's not sarcasm," another user wrote.
"This is just disgusting, he represents our country atleast give some respect to his personal life even u troll his cricket," another tweet read.
For context, Urvashi had earlier given an interview, revealing that a certain 'Mr RP' had come to meet her in a hotel.
Pant then reportedly took a jibe at Rautela through his instagram story, which he deleted within 10 minutes.
In the story, Pant wrote about people "who lie in interviews" and are "thirsty for fame". It soon went viral and sparked a debate on social media
"It's funny how people lie in interviews just for some meagre popularity and for hitting the headlines. Sad how some people are so thirsty for fame and name. May God bless them." He added hashtags like #merapichachorhoBehen #Jhutkibhilimithotihai
While the topic has been in the domain for a while, both Pant and Urvashi haven't made any direct comments on each other.