"This guy suddenly stood up next to me and I was a little scared honestly" - Rohit Sharma on the fan invasion during MI's home opener in IPL 2024
Former Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma admitted to being scared when he suddenly saw someone stand up next to him during the team's IPL 2024 home opener against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Wankhede Stadium.
The incident took place when a spectator entered the field in the second innings and hugged Rohit before being escorted out by security. Fan invasion has slowly become a recurring theme with a similar instance occurring during the CSK-RCB season opener, involving Virat Kohli.
Rohit recalled the fan invasion during the MI-RR game in an interaction on the Club Prairie Fire Podcast and said:
"He (the fan) just said I am a big fan and I want a hug. I said yeah hug but please don’t do that otherwise you’ll be in big trouble. I was actually trying to set up the field, standing at slip. Suddenly, Tim David, who was standing right across at mid-off, was pointing to someone coming behind me. I was not able to understand what he was trying to say. But this guy suddenly stood up next to me and I was a little scared honestly."
Unfortunately for Rohit Sharma and MI fans, the side went down by six wickets to suffer a third consecutive defeat. They have since recovered by winning two of their last three outings to be on four points after six games.
"The person who makes me laugh the most is Rishabh Pant" - Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma picked Rishabh Pant as the Indian teammate who makes him laugh the most.
Renowned for his chatter behind the stumps, Pant returned to competitive cricket in the ongoing IPL after being away for 15 months due to multiple injuries suffered during his accident in December 2022.
"The person who makes me laugh the most is Rishabh Pant. He is one crazy guy. I’ve been watching him since he was a kid and was disappointed for him when he missed a year and a half because of that incident (accident). And I am glad that he is back on the field. But he is quite witty and the kind of things he does behind the stumps makes you laugh," said Rohit.
Rohit Sharma added:
"He has got his way of doing things which is what I like about him. Even when he was recovering from his injury and not playing, he was still at his best at making me laugh. When I actually want to laugh, I call him, there is something he says and we all laugh about it."
Despite the time off, Rishabh Pant has looked at his sparkling best thus far in the IPL, scoring 210 runs at an average of 35 and a strike rate of over 156 in seven games.
The 26-year-old has also led the Delhi Capitals admirably, with the side winning their last two encounters to climb to sixth on the points table with three wins in seven matches.