In a rather hilarious incident, a spectator was seen running onto the field towards Virat Kohli during the IPL 2022 Eliminator on Wednesday, before being taken off by the security guard on his shoulders.
Fans invading a cricket field has been a frequent occurrence even in modern-day cricket, despite all the boundary restrictions and the loaded security teams in place. Spectators have often been seen approaching their favourite players like MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the recent past, thereby interrupting the game’s progression, but also serving the fans and players for some entertainment.
One such instance took place in the IPL 2022 Eliminator clash between the Lucknow Super Giants and the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Wednesday.
RCB finished strongly at 207/4 in the first innings after being put in to bat, with Rajat Patidar leading the way with an unbeaten 54-ball 112, striking 12 fours and seven sixes. Dinesh Karthik too, played his part with an unbeaten 37 off 23, with the last five overs of the RCB’s innings yielding 84 runs.
LSG too responded strongly, with KL Rahul (79 off 58) and Deepak Hooda (45 off 26) leading the way.
With the game evenly poised during the run-chase, a young fan was seen approaching Virat Kohli, who was stationed at the deep mid–wicket boundary. The security team immediately rushed onto the field to take him off, and much to the crowd’s and Kohli’s excitement, one of the policemen carried the fan on the shoulders off the field.
Kohli burst into laughter while on his knees, and mimicked the policeman’s action while turning to the crowd. The entire sequence was recorded by a spectator and has been doing the rounds on social media.
When the intruder towards Virat Kohli at Eden Gardens – VK couldn’t control his laugh seeing policeman’s reaction 😂 pic.twitter.com/Ctvw8fU4uy
— sohom ᱬ (@AwaaraHoon) May 26, 2022
RCB eventually sealed a 14-run victory, set up by Rajat Patidar’s 54-ball 112* after being put in to bat earlier. They will now face Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 in Ahmedabad on Friday.