IPL 6: Was Kohli's booing by the Mumbai fans such a bad thing?

Virat Kohli: It’s me against the world

Virat Kohli is angry. He’s been angry for about a month now, actually. And he has shown no qualms in expressing that loud and clear, bless his heart. It is probably the stress of leading a high-profile IPL team that is making him wear a permanent expression that suggests there is something unpleasant under his nose, and you could easily call him out for failing to keep his composure upon being thrust into the limelight. But he’s made his anger work for him – Royal Challengers Bangalore are sitting pretty at the top of the points table, and the mere thought of facing a rampaging batting lineup comprising of Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Kohli himself has been sending shivers down the spines of most sides. On the few occasions that things have gone wrong for RCB, though, like they did yesterday, Kohli’s anger has, if not necessarily gotten the better of him, then at least become the talk of the town.

Kohli’s bone of contention yesterday was the supposedly despicable behaviour of the Mumbai crowd, who chanted ‘Cheat! Cheat!’ and booed Kohli almost all through the match. First, the facts: Kieron Pollard hit a ball straight to Kohli, who was standing at cover. Ambati Rayudu, at the non-striker’s end, took a start, and then wisely decided to turn back as a single was out of the question. But Kohli had already let go of the ball, and the bowler R Vinay Kumar, while trying to back up for Kohli’s throw, unintentionally came in the way of Rayudu’s attempt to get back in the crease. The ensuing tangle left Rayudu short of his ground as the throw hit the stumps, and the third umpire had little hesitation in ruling him run out.

By any standard, this was a perfectly legal dismissal. Vinay Kumar had his back turned towards Rayudu and he clearly had no idea that he was obstructing the batsman’s path. The Mumbai crowd, though, as crowds tend to do, thought otherwise. They let loose their fury, firing a volley of jeers and abuses at the cornered Kohli, who had no option but to suck it all up quietly (showing the crowd the middle finger might have worked in Sydney, but it sure as hell wouldn’t have worked in Mumbai). The home team cantering to an easy win emboldened the crowd even further, and the boos reached a crescendo as Kohli came on to the stage for the post-match presentation.

Kohli didn’t utter a word while on the field, but it was only a matter of time before his simmering anger rose to the surface. Speaking to reporters after the match, he tore into the Mumbai crowd, wondering “what was wrong with them” and insinuating that they didn’t “appreciate good cricket”. Kohli’s biggest grouse, however, was that the Mumbai crowd had seemingly forgotten that he plays for their country. “IPL is not the the end of the world”, he thundered. “I don’t know why people have so much aggression and so much hatred towards other teams in this particular venue…It is only creating hatred among the players”, he went on.

That’s a lot of indignation in very few sentences. If I didn’t know better though, I’d have thought Kohli was suffering from a particularly severe case of me-against-the-world syndrome. The IPL may not be the end of the world, but it IS the biggest cricket tournament in the world by any stretch of the imagination, and you can’t fault the crowd for acting like it. Kohli may have been at the receiving end this time, but why shouldn’t he be when he’s playing away from his ‘home’, in enemy territory?

Yes, the Mumbai crowd may have overdone their jeering a tad, and they may have displayed less-than-perfect knowledge of cricket by calling Kohli a ‘cheat’, but Indian crowds have always been known for crossing lines during international matches. All that happened yesterday was the mindset of a typical Indian cricket fan getting transferred to a Mumbai Indians fan. And is that such a bad thing? God knows the IPL has needed an infusion of passion for a while now – team loyalty has been almost non-existent, and there are more ‘faithful fans’ of football clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal in India than there are of Kings XI Punjab or Pune Warriors India. While the tone of the booing yesterday may have been a little distasteful, the passionate support that the Mumbai crowd showed for their team was a welcome sight.

A sports competition is serious business, and no matter how ridiculous the ‘Extra Innings’ TV presenters may look or sound, the IPL is a serious competition too. The Kohlis and Gambhirs may be BFFs when playing for the Indian national team, but when they play for their respective IPL clubs, they shouldn’t expect any favours from each other or from opposition crowds. You’d think six whole seasons of high-octane IPL cricket would have taught this to them already. When Steven Gerrard plays against Manchester United at Old Trafford, do the Manchester faithful cheer for him because he plays for England?

The Kohli-Gambhir spat: A necessary evil for the betterment of the IPL?

The IPL has been a tremendous success so far, but even its most die-hard supporters would admit that it has stagnated the last couple of years. To get out of its rut, the next logical step would be for each franchise to develop such a loyal fan following that it carves out a separate identity for itself, in turn becoming a marketable property all on its own. That can only happen if, at least while the tournament is underway, the spectators look at every IPL player as an IPL player alone, and not as part of the Indian cricket team. So what if they all play together for the country? Right now they’re playing for their respective IPL teams; nothing more, nothing less.

The Mumbai crowd yesterday looked at Kohli as nothing more than an RCB player playing against their beloved Mumbai Indians team, and I for one can’t fault them for that. Maybe Kohli, once he has calmed down a bit, will see the good in their reactions too.