Every religion has a huge spectrum of followers. From those who associate themselves with a religion, to those who follow their teachings to a T. However it is only ever the extremists that get the attention. From the gang rapists in India, to the terrorists in Iraq and Syria. It may be far stretch to compare certain fans to terrorists, but to me, these people are the terrorists of my religion.

On Tuesday the 6th of October at the Cuttack stadium, the good name of Indian cricket was sullied by a group of Individuals. Individuals who had decided to take it into their own hands to try and alter the course of the game after India struck out for 92 in 18 overs. They had decided to throw bottles onto the field in protest of India’s poor performance. The first instance of bottle throwing occurred between innings. Luckily it had no impact on the game. That however is where it should have stopped. The fact that two more episodes occurred, one of which forced the players off the field just showed how poor security was at the stadium and how poor the crowd were. There was no love for cricket as a sport that day.

Were a football fan to throw anything onto the pitch they would be kicked out immediately. You wouldn’t even notice. However it took 50+ minutes and an entire stand evacuation before play could continue. Even those fans who had come just to appreciate the game were kicked out.

How can a team feel encouraged to go and play abroad when this is the response they get? South Africa were clinical. Albie Morkel bowled fantastically well but there was no appreciation for him. Instead he was greeted with a mob of angry Indians who were not happy their team had performed so poorly.

It was also a poor response from MS Dhoni in the press conferenceto downplay such behaviour. It may well have been that the crowd were just doing it for fun and it had nothing to do with the fact that India were losing (however unlikely), but it was completely not in the spirit of the game and extremely dangerous for the players

Hopefully the rest of the series will not carry the bitter taste of such behaviour, regardless of India’s performance. (I will however pray India find some form soon).