A crazy Ganguly fan enters the cricket field during Pune Warrior game against Deccan Chargers
Despite high security during the Pune Warriors match against the Deccan Chargers on Tuesday, May 10th, a crazy fan of former Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly, managed to enter the cricket field at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
He reached the middle of the pitch and tried to touch Ganguly’s feet as security personnel took their time to reach the field and take the fan away. The police said that the youngster was highly drunk and managed to jump over the fence to enter the pitch.
The incident occurred in the 12th over of the second innings, when Ganguly and Robin Uthappa were on the crease facing Charger’s bowler, Christian.
“The youngster, clad in a blue T-shirt, managed to mingle with the ground staff, who were also wearing blue and managed to go near the players who had gathered near the pitch to have some refreshments while Christian was being attended to”, a police officer
said.
Ganguly and the on-field umpire, Amiesh Saheba, both tried to stop the youngster. It was also revealed that it was confusing to recognise the intruder since he was wearing the same colour as Pune’s jersey.
Two friends of the youngster, pleaded for the police to spare their friend from any punishment. A police officer also said that the youth was a fervent fan of Ganguly since despite being beaten, he wished to meet his favourite cricketer.
Later, the passionate fan was identified as Nitin Joshi from Basheerbagh, taking a hotel management course in Australia.
Pune, under Yuvraj Singh’s captaincy, won the match against Deccan, as Dada’s impressive innings of 49 runs helped his side achieve a challenging target of 137 runs.
Yuvraj was signed by Pune as a replacement for Ashish Nehra for the last four matches. The former cricketer had earlier been playing as Kolkata Knight Rider’s captain for the first three seasons.
Pune displayed excellent bowling performance and restricted Deccan to just 136 runs. Mitchell Marsh was the pick of the bowlers, claiming four wickets in four overs and was awarded Man of the Match.
Pune’s next clash against Deccan Chargers is on May 16th, at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai.