Tarak Mehta actor attends RR vs MI IPL 2025 match; Rajasthan Royals feature him [Watch]

Indian actor Sharad Sankla, known for portraying the character of 'Abdul' in the popular sitcom Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, was in attendance for the IPL 2025 match between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) at Jaipur on Thursday (May 1). The Rajasthan-based team shared a picture of the artist cheering for the Men in Pink in the stands.

RR connected Sankla's appearance to a hilarious meme from the show. The franchise wrote on Instagram:

"No, we weren’t dreaming 😂💗."

A few fans also shared pictures with Sanka. Here are some of the photographs of the 59-year-old at the venue:

RR suffered a massive 100-run defeat to MI in the home encounter. They slumped to their eighth loss in 11 games, crashing out of the race to the IPL 2025 playoffs. They are languishing at the eighth spot in the points table at this stage.

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"All their punts have failed" - Aakash Chopra sums up RR's dismal IPL 2025 campaign

Following Rajasthan's humiliating loss to Mumbai, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra pointed out how the team's batting unit failed to click this year. He highlighted that even their retained players like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag haven't performed consistently.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra said:

"It's fine if Vaibhav gets out for zero, but what are the others doing? They invested so much in batting, but what is the batting doing, whether it's Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel or Shimron Hetmyer? If you leave aside Nitish Rana, all of them are their retained players.

"All their punts have failed, and that's why this team is out. They had a lot of Indian batting, and they tried to assemble an overseas bowling lineup. They were playing two overseas spinners. There is no doubt that Rajasthan have played ordinary cricket."

Rajasthan will look to salvage some pride by finishing the season with a few consolation victories. They take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Sunday, May 4.