Ravi Shastri faced backlash online after his comment on a fan© X (Twitter)
Former Indian cricket team coach Ravi Shastri's remark on a fan during commentary left the internet fuming during Day 3 of the first Test encounter against New Zealand in Bengaluru on Friday. During the second session of play, the camera showed a fan eating an ice-cream in the stands which was followed by a conversation between Shastri and legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar. Shastri called the fan a "big unit" as well as a "big bloke" during the conversation and that has resulted in a lot of criticism online.
Shashtripic.twitter.com/Il7xxNCf1i
—(@murdockohli) October 18, 2024
"It is hot. You really need that ice cream. But someone is hiding behind. He is a big unit. Where is the ice-cream boy?" Shastri said on commentary.
— FFD (@FFDFiles) October 18, 2024Ravi Shastri is wild"Big bloke, Big unit hiding the ice cream cone "
You didn't need to fat shame that guy on live television. "
Let him enjoy his ice cream man#INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/RmWxkkxAcz
"He is actually hiding it. Because someone in his family must have told him that you should not be eating ice-cream," Sunil Gavaskar joined in.
Disgusting from @RaviShastriOfc .. Fat shaming someone on live television is not cool! @BCCI https://t.co/ErFBAgqaU6
— Akhil Naga (@chelseaktbffh10) October 18, 2024
"There he goes and out comes the cone. Ice cream has disappeared and the cone remains. He is a big bloke. He is tucking into it. It is really hot," he concluded.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli became the fourth Indian cricketer to score 9000 runs in Tests. Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar are the only other India batters who have achieved the feat.
The achievement was even bigger for Kohli as he found his lost form and ended his 9-month drought of scoring a half-century in red-ball cricket. He looked comfortable against the New Zealand bowlers and ended up scoring a gritty fifty.