PakPassion Exclusive : Praveen Kumar Involved in Ugly Spat With Fan at Northampton

[Saj]

The Indian cricket team's tour of England has been what one could term a disaster so far. Injuries, defeats in both test matches, fans unhappy with some of the player's performances and a demoralised and unhappy looking squad.

Their woes continued on Saturday as India suffered an embarrassing "first innings defeat" against an inexperienced Northamptonshire side.

As if on field matters weren't bad enough, the defeat was then followed by the announcement by Rahul Dravid in a carefully worded statement after the game against Northamptonshire, that despite his return to the one day squad after a 2 year absence, he would be retiring from both shorter versions of the game and solely concentrating on test cricket. The fact that Dravid made the announcement on the day that he was named in the one day squad, speaks volumes for what he thought of his 2 year omission from one day cricket.

The off field "goings on" though did not end there with Dravid's announcement, as large groups of Indian fans encircled the tourist's team bus as they attempted to make an exit from the County ground.

Whilst most of the "banter" directed towards the players was good natured and in support of the Indian team, as it had been throughout the day, things turned ugly shortly before the tourists team bus departed.

The first sign of trouble was when medium fast bowler Praveen Kumar was seen charging out of the team bus with a cricket bat in his hand. Kumar who was fined 20% of his match fee for dissent in the second test match against England had to be restrained by team mate Suresh Raina as he lunged towards a group of supporters. Kumar could be seen pointing at a group of fans and had to be restrained by stewards. Kumar's team mate Suresh Raina used his initiative in grabbing Kumar and then leading him back onto the team bus, as threatening words were exchanged by Kumar and the young fans.

The ugly scenes did not stop there though, as another Indian player left the team bus, this time though to attempt to diffuse the situation. Medium fast bowler Munaf Patel left his seat on the bus to complain to stewards that fans were being disrespectful to him and some team mates. Munaf was seen speaking to the stewards and pointing towards fans and asking stewards to intervene in the issue.

As stunned fans looked on at the bizarre events, not long after Patel regained his seat on the team bus, Kumar once again leapt out of the team bus and made a charge for the same group of fans who he had attempted to lunge towards a few minutes earlier.

Stewards once again had to restrain Kumar as he hurled abuse and pointed at one particular fan. The fan responded by shouting back at Kumar "I am under 18, I haven't done anything wrong."

As stewards struggled to keep the fan and Kumar apart, once again Suresh Raina played the part of peacemaker to intervene in what was proving to be a highly embarrassing incident for the Indian team. Kumar came face to face with the fan and just as things were about to turn even more uglier, the Indian security manager also intervened.

Kumar was once again dragged onto the team bus by Raina, again shouting expletives in full view and hearing distance of fans of all ages.

It was then the turn of the Indian security manager to come face to face with the young fan as another verbal exchange ensued. Once again the stewards had to intervene just as the incident was about to escalate. The young fan was dragged away by stewards and escorted out of the ground. One steward could be heard saying "ok that's enough".

A friend of the young fan explained to PakPassion.net that they were taking pictures of the players on the team bus and Kumar allegedly made an obscene gesture at them. This then according to the friend of the ejected fan led to a verbal spat and Kumar running out of the team bus on two occasions.

Other eyewitnesses who were close to the series of incidents stated that the ejected fan may have been drunk and abusive to Kumar and was allegedly hurling abuse at him[Kumar].

However another group of Indian fans stated that Kumar's behaviour was nothing short of disgraceful and even if there had been any provocation, Kumar should have left it to the stewards to deal with instead of running out of the team bus twice.

[Amir]

That Praven is a real nut I believe he attacked a doctor in India too?

Stewards once again had to restrain Kumar as he hurled abuse and pointed at one particular fan. The fan responded by shouting back at Kumar "I am under 18, I haven't done anything wrong."

This statement sticks out to me though. No doubt the fan had some involvement. Love how he feels the need to state he is "under 18" and he did no wrong. As if to correlate the two together to prove his innocence. More like, he got in over his head and then thought he would play the "bacha" card to get away without any responsibility.

[chaiwala]

Originally Posted by Saj However another group of Indian fans stated that Kumar's behaviour was nothing short of disgraceful and even if there had been any provocation, then Kumar should have left it to the stewards to deal with instead of running out of the team bus twice.

Yup. Disgraceful is the right word. PK needs to get his act together.

Props to Raina for preventing something nasty, twice. I'm becoming a bigger fan of him by the day.

[Lara400]

They need to concentrate and look to attack the England team rather than lunging at rowdy fans.

[violet_may]

Twice!?

What did the fan say to make PK run out of the bus twice? Thankfully, no one got physically injured.

A miserable tour so far from nearly all angles

Whatever the fan said, PK should not have threatened him like that. Although I agree that some fans are quite malicious.

PK should channel that aggression towards gaining more speed
Let your work do the talking!

[SIMBA]

Raina the peacemaker lol

Wonder if he could resolve the Kashmir issue lol

PK thinking hes a super star lol

[DeadlyVenom]

Not right what he did but the team is obviously feeling deflated and stressed so may be a bit touchy when confronted by fickle fans.

I wonder why fans were being disrespectful to PK when he has been the stand out player? Indian fans overestimated their team coming into this series and it seems like they still cant understand what has happened to their "number 1" team.

[Seen Sheen]

Not surprised at the 'aggression' shown by PK. Afterall, he's a son/grandson of a wrestler.(no?)

[D]

Would really like the BCCI to take some action against PK.

And the security officer of the team also exchanged a few expletives with the fan? Really? BCCI needs to re-look this too.

The fan was probably guilty for saying whatever he said but this is no way of dealing with them. I doubt this is an ICC matter but the BCCI should serve him with a ban (a couple of matches at least). Afridi's incident in South Africa comes to mind - even on that occasion, the fan had provoked him and Afridi was duly punished for trying to hit the fan.

Disgraceful incident. Also signals towards panic in the camp and that the defeat didn't go down too well with them - frustration creeping in.

[enigmatic_stani]

Respect to Praveen. He seems to be the only Indian bowler witha pair of balls atm. You shouldnt have to take abuse off anyone.

[malakian]

Haha, what a rabble. Nice reporting Saj, still nothing about it on cricinfo or other news outlets.

[SIMBA]

Originally Posted by cricfan2008 Haha, what a rabble. Nice reporting Saj, still nothing about it on cricinfo or other news outlets.

Are you suprised

[Desi]

how is it that everytime a team goes to england they go in moderate-happy spirits and leave in utter shambles (might be a bit soon since the tour isn't over yet)

aussies, pak, indians, etc :/

[malakian]

We break teams!

[SIMBA]

Originally Posted by cricfan2008 We break teams!

Are you an england supporter? West Indies supporter?

Yer, most teams get exposed on english wickets for having FTB as India, Pakistan, SL and this causes loss and unhappy changing rooms.

Tho - Pakistan was self destructive

[Seen Sheen]

Originally Posted by enigmatic_stani Respect to Praveen. He seems to be the only Indian bowler witha pair of balls atm. You shouldnt have to take abuse off anyone.

Haha, the statement perfectly complements your avatar.

[Ashraful_Rox]

Praveen Kumar

[Rizie]

[deviously~fading~away]

Originally Posted by Saj A friend of the young fan explained to PakPassion.net that they were taking pictures of the players on the team bus and Kumar allegedly made an obscene gesture at them. This then according to the friend of the ejected fan led to a verbal spat and Kumar running out of the team bus on two occasions.

********! Players never start it. It must be the "young 18 year old" rude kid who probably needs a spanking from his parents!

[deviously~fading~away]

Originally Posted by Desi how is it that everytime a team goes to england they go in moderate-happy spirits and leave in utter shambles (might be a bit soon since the tour isn't over yet) aussies, pak, indians, etc :/

England is a terrible place for cricket teams. They arrive with smiles & leave in disarray!

[Down2Earth]

fans can say whatever they like as long as they don't get physical with a player. it's for the players to act professionally and ignore it all.

i remember how all indians condemned inzi for attacking a fan (even though he got nowhere near him), i wonder if they'll do the same here or support praveen.

[akamaka]

Disgraceful behavior by the indian players.

If you look at the interviews from last year, pakistani fans were 100x worse. Players couldnt leave the team bus, english and pakistani, indians etc alike all booed, insulted them by calling them cheaters, traitors.etc Remember how Wahab had money showed to him, the cheers fans had started, jackets being given to him. Not one of the pakistani players reacted this way.

Also still nothing on cricinfo. Absolutely disgraceful, they call themselves a cricket reporting website. Sellouts!

[Ruri]

Poor form by PK to lunge at this bloke, though the bloke was probably a douche.

The fan maybe acted as an idiot and we may judge him badly, and probably deserves rebuke, but a player can't do that.

[IgnitedMind]

For people who live most of their life in public, I am sure small provocations are nothing. For praveen Kumar to react like that, there would have been something that the fans did. You cant treat your players like robots or **** when they dont do well. Praveen being a professional should have controlled his emotions and not react , but Players are humans to and sometimes a gesture is what it takes to react. In this case, I am actually inclined to say the fan did something wrong.

[Fawad2010]

Maybe someone told him to bowl faster

Will BCCI fine him?

[Dann]

What happened was bad. But still Praveen got balls!

Don't think its fair to hurl abuses at players, so you get what you deserve.

[asifp]

Looks like PK is from Inzi's school of hard knocks.

Not surprisingly nothing on cricinfo yet.

Feels like Saj Bhai had a great time writing this up. Every detail captured.

[freelance_cricketer]

Indian team continues to bring more embarrassment

[Fireworks11]

Shameful.

Fans do intimidate players and some do go overboard with their abuse, it's up to the players to take it with a pinch of salt and act professionally. Brush it off, there are two sides to being a professional cricketer.

It could have been a lot uglier had it not been for the stewards and Raina.

[Wised up]

no one else reported it?

[NJamal]

Kumar thinks of himself as a super hero of Mallu films..

Lets see how much ban will he get for this (waving a cricket bat at a spectator)? Remember 2007

[Wristy_Shuffler]

"I am under 18, I haven't done anything wrong."

That excuse didn't even work for Amir. Who does this fan think he is ? But Kumar jumping out twice? What a joker. Maybe if he ran in to bowl as fast as he runs after fans, he'd make it past 80mph.

[Big Harvey]

PK following in the footsteps of Yuvraj "Water Boy" Singh.

[Saj]

Really bizarre series of events.

At one point it seemed like the Indian team's security guy was trying to drag the fan onto the team bus before stewards intervened.

Nobody else is reporting it yet, as I was the only person from the media who saw this happen, most of the media were still inside filing their reports.

[the Great Khan]

Saj better watxh out..the bcci will cone looking for you..

Disgraceful behaviour..this is calcutta or some pind where they treat you like gods..lol indian team disintegrating in front of us

[Saj]

Saj better watxh out..the bcci will cone looking for you..

TGK, I report what I see and what I feel.

I have no ties with the BCCI, PCB or any player(s) for that matter. If anyone desrves praise in my eyes, I will praise them. If they deserve criticism then I will criticise, irrespective of how much it hurts the player's cronies or media supporters.

It's called freedom of speech and not being on anyone's payroll ! ;)

[PerfectionPersonified]

Saj bhai it would have been amazing if we had the video!!

[MenInG]

Originally Posted by freelance_cricketer Indian team continues to bring more embarrassment

Not the team - just a few members. Probably frustrated by their own performance. In a bizarre way, shows that they do care!

[Saj]

Originally Posted by PerfectionPersonified Saj bhai it would have been amazing if we had the video!!

Agree, but things were moving so fast that I could only capture pictures that are available in this thread :-

http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/sh...d.php?t=134014

There were players jumping out of the emergency exit and back onto the bus, shouting, screaming....pretty chaotic and ugly scenes.

Worst thing was that there were women and children around and such disgusting language was being used by both parties.

My own family was nearby as my car was parked right near the Indian team bus.

[12cavalry]

Originally Posted by Saj Really bizarre series of events. At one point it seemed like the Indian team's security guy was trying to drag the fan onto the team bus before stewards intervened. Nobody else is reporting it yet, as I was the only person from the media who saw this happen, most of the media were still inside filing their reports.

I suppose they don't realize this isn't India.

[the Great Khan]

Originally Posted by Saj TGK, I report what I see and what I feel. I have no ties with the BCCI, PCB or any player(s) for that matter. If anyone desrves praise in my eyes, I will praise them. If they deserve criticism then I will criticise, irrespective of how much it hurts the player's cronies or media supporters. It's called freedom of speech and not being on anyone's payroll ! ;)

Lol..the empire doesnt care..lol..seriously though a good report and exckusive for pp..its an interesting contrast to our team last year..these indians have just become arrogant and besharam

[AmmarAshraf]

LOL during reading this news I was singing this song

"Praveen bari namkeen" Abrar-ul-Haq

[amarali]

Suresh Raina height increased....Well done Suresh!

[chacha kashmiri]

I'm sure kumar was been commended for his humour and good nature during the last test

[Crazy_K]

Originally Posted by Amir That Praven is a real nut I believe he attacked a doctor in India too? This statement sticks out to me though. No doubt the fan had some involvement. Love how he feels the need to state he is "under 18" and he did no wrong. As if to correlate the two together to prove his innocence. More like, he got in over his head and then thought he would play the "bacha" card to get away without any responsibility.

Exactly. Its part of that 'mob-mentality' thing too. When in a large group its easy to shout all-sorts, the moment you get called up as as individual, that tune suddenly changes

[W63L35]

Originally Posted by MenInG Now featuring on NDTV ( courtesy of @Saj_PakPassion ) http://www.ndtv.com/article/sports/p...-report-176804

Ten Sports also reported it;

[KingKhanWC]

Superb reporting Saj, this has not made any other media.

Kumar should be very careful this is the UK and any act of violence towards a fan would be a serious crime which could land him in prison and finish off his career.

[Riff]

Praveen seems like someone who cannot be controlled. He does what he feels like.

[Dann]

bad mouthing and verbal abuse is one thing, however trying to drag a minor on to a bus is a serious crime. This is sad stuff, looks like since the Indians can't beat England they go around beating kids.

Sad stuff really... SOFTIESSSSSS

[Saj]

Originally Posted by W63L35 Ten Sports also reported it;

No, that was a different incident.

I think that was during the game.

The incidents that I am reporting on were after the game.

[W63L35]

Originally Posted by Saj No, that was a different incident. I think that was during the game. The incidents that I am reporting on were after the game.

Wow... didn't realize that. So two incidents in 1 (or 2) days?

Sreesanth and Harbhjan had gotten pretty mild lately ... so I guess, somebody had to step up for our entertainment.

[Pk-zindabaad]

Originally Posted by SIMBA Raina the peacemaker lol Wonder if he could resolve the Kashmir issue lol PK thinking hes a super star lol

excuse me, , as if, use ure dimagh bhai, it is short for Pakistan, duhhhhhh

[Saqs]

Originally Posted by enigmatic_stani Respect to Praveen. He seems to be the only Indian bowler witha pair of balls atm. You shouldnt have to take abuse off anyone.

Agreed.

What's with the 'holier than thou' attitude that expect of cricketers?

Something must have provoked his behaviour. Wouldn't have been the run-of-the-mill abuse I wouldn't think.

Seems to be the only one putting in the hard yards for India - on the field and off.

The rest are just chilling back and watching the show it seems.

And to those who point at him being 'frustrated' because of performance - he's probably the only one who has pulled his weight.

Like a bit of aggression in 'fast' bowlers.

[malakian]

I could take PK a bit more seriously if he could bowl above 80mph. These trundlers trying to act hard are a joke.

[Dann]

I think praveen can bowl at 80, but he doesn't so he can control the ball better. But still, why they acting so hard?

[KingKhanWC]

A guy I know is a friend of these guys.

It all started when some young kid was trying to get Kohli's attention who threw some obscenities towards the kid which they found really harsh so then heckled Kohli for the rest of the day. After the end of play they continued to heckle Kohli who but Praveen Kumar thought they were heckling him as he was nearby. Praveen was sitting near Kohli on the coach and once again was mistaken thinking they are continuing to abuse him and this is when he lost his rag, grabbed a bat and got off the coach.

[Crazy_K]

Originally Posted by KingKhanWC A guy I know is a friend of these guys. It all started when some young kid was trying to get Kohli's attention who threw some obscenities towards the kid which they found really harsh so then heckled Kohli for the rest of the day. After the end of play they continued to heckle Kohli who but Praveen Kumar thought they were heckling him as he was nearby. Praveen was sitting near Kohli on the coach and once again was mistaken thinking they are continuing to abuse him and this is when he lost his rag, grabbed a bat and got off the coach.

Kohli ignored the kid, he didn't throw any obscenities at him. He would've got his a$$ whooped had that happened.

[KingKhanWC]

Originally Posted by Crazy_K Kohli ignored the kid, he didn't throw any obscenities at him. He would've got his a$$ whooped had that happened.

Were you there?

[Wasim_Waqar]

I am waiting on the pictures from a random Indian guy and a random English fan (as I didn't have a camera nor did I intend to go!)- but I met the Indian team today.

Kumar is actually a fairly nice guy. The fan must have been an idiot.

I can confirm, from fans that were there, that there was this incident in Northampton.

[Saj]

Credit to Praveen though, he showed some fight on and off the field for India

[Saj]

Raina, playing the role of peacemaker yesterday too, this time between Akmal and Sharma.

[Saurav]

yeah good on him.it indeed was his nephew