By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Aug 23:
Fans of MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma clashed against each other in Kurundwad of Kolhapur district in Maharashtra, making police to intervene and calm down the fighting groups on Saturday.
After former India skipper announced his retirement from international cricket on Independence Day, his fans erected posters and banners, while Rohit’s fans did the same as they placed his banners of him after the right-hand batsman was conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award on Saturday.
Hoardings put up by Rohit’s fans were destroyed by some unknown people which led to a confrontation between the two fan groups. Things soon took an ugly turn when a clash broke out between the fan groups of the two cricketers. As per a report, a youngster, who is said to be a fan of Rohit, started abusing the fans of Dhoni after the Hitman’s posters were taken down.
He was taken to a sugarcane field in the town and beaten for abusing. The clash between the two fans groups has left Twitter disappointed. Former India batsman Virender Sehwag took to Twitter to react to the news and urged fans to not take their fandom to another level as players always share mutual respect between them, unlike their violent fan groups.
“Kya karte rehte ho paagalon. Aapas mein players are either fond of each other or just don’t talk much, kaam se kaam rakhte hain. But kuchh fans alag hi level ke pagle hain. Jhagda Jhagdi mat karo, Team India ko- as one yaad karo (Players are fond of each other or they don’t talk much. They speak only as much as required but some fans are mad. Please do not fight against each other and treat Team India as one),” Sehwag wrote on Twitter.