Ruturaj Gaikwad was seen asking a groundsman to step away from the Indian team dugout during a rain interruption in the fifth T20I against South Africa in Bangalore on Sunday. His gesture sparked reactions on social media.
A video featuring Ruturaj Gaikwad, asking a groundsman seated next to him to move away has been doing the rounds on social media. The incident occurred during the first rain interruption in the fifth and final India-South Africa T20I at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Sunday, June 19.
Rishabh Pant lost the toss for the fifth straight time, and the hosts were put in to bat yet again. However, just as the fielders took the field, the rain started, calling for a 50-minute delay. As the groundsmen got together to ready the outfield for play, a snippet put in by the host broadcasters was shared by a Twitter user, and has been doing the rounds since.
Gaikwad was seen seated padded up in the Indian dugout, and a ground staff personnel sat next to him, asking for a selfie. Gaikwad can be seen pushing him aside with a tap on his shoulder, asking him to move away.
Gaikwad’s reaction could have stemmed keeping in mind the covid-19 precautions. Moreover, no one outside of the team’s contingent is allowed inside the dugout.
However, fans on social media were quick to criticise the opener for his behaviour, with some even pointing out the Chennai Super Kings – the team Gaikwad represents at the IPL. Interestingly, the MS Dhoni led side has won six Fair Play awards till date – the most by any team in the competition’s history.
Here are how the fans reacted to the entire sequence:
Very bad and disrespectful gesture by Ruturaj Gaikwad. Sad to see these groundsmen getting treated like this👎 pic.twitter.com/Qj6YoXIPUa
— akshat (@ReignOfVirat) June 19, 2022
Is It Good Attitude Of Ruturaj Gaikwad ? #AskStar pic.twitter.com/bjlbd5yuPH
— Pooja M Bhandwaldar (@Wife_of_hacker) June 19, 2022
Ruturaj Gaikwad showing attitude while taking selfie with ‘groundsman’ not anyone can treat everyone equal like Rohit Sharma ❤️#INDvSA #IndvsSa pic.twitter.com/Y2IEDsJShj
— 𓃵 Ctrl C + Ctrl Memes 45 (@Ctrlmemes_) June 19, 2022
Shame on ruturaj Gaikwad. Disgusting same like his face.
Shame.pic.twitter.com/II2v1YEhwD
— Sir Dinda²⁶⁴ (@ReallyDinda) June 19, 2022
Shame on Chennai and Dhoni
— Pranjal (@Pranjal_one8) June 19, 2022
Do u know players r in bio bubble
Don’t know groundsman were in bubble or notCovid is not over vro
many players r getting positive
Markram affected covid before seriesPlayers r following covid rules
What’s wrong in that— Dr.Sanakyan (@NGS_tweets) June 19, 2022
Totally. Be honest man You don’t care about Gaikwad or any other cricketer’s “gesture” you just hate Chennai and CSK 😂 pic.twitter.com/02SISpz8n2
— Levi Hackerman (@LeviHac) June 19, 2022
no bio bubble in this series + ground staff too will undergo covid tests before matches
— Ram (@Ram_Abbireddy) June 19, 2022
This Is How You Treat Groundsmen
I Am MSDian And Csk Is My 2nd Fav Team , But This Behaviour From Ruturaj Is Unacceptable https://t.co/Z834TWGvmV pic.twitter.com/M7XOZtQ6BL
— Chinmay Shah (@chinmayshah28) June 19, 2022
The game began at 7:50 AM IST, with it being reduced to 19-overs a side affair at that point. Ishan Kishan smashed Keshav Maharaj for consecutive sixes in the first over, but was undone by a brilliant Lungi Ngidi slower yorker in the second.
Gaikwad too, couldn’t last long, falling to Ngidi for 10. India were 28/2 after 3.3 overs with Shreyas Iyer joined by skipper Rishabh Pant, before rain intervened yet again for the game to be abandoned eventually.
