Hello Prem

I was in the stands next to the one in which the incident occurred, in Toronto.

Despite all of what Ramiz and the manager had to say at the press conference, I don't think the facts were being portrayed correctly.

I honestly didn't hear any personal insults being aimed specifically at Inzamam, and I'm not speaking as an Indian fan.

There were a few meant for Malik, and again all that I heard was things like "Malik kithne rupye liye?" ("Malik, how much money did you take?") and "Malik, budda so raha hein" (Malik, the old man, is sleeping) - referring to him not coming out to field for the post-lunch session. Whilst not entirely commendable, most of it was in good humour - at least as far as I could make out.

I wasn't quite like you've reported. Inzamam didn't grab a bat when threatened. A team-mate ran up to him with a bat, and he ran toward the particular section of the crowd bat in hand, skirted the advertisement hoardings and jumped into the crowd. A brief scuffle followed, after which relative calm was restored.

I'm not justifying what the fan did. I do also appreciate the fact that cricket these days is a high pressure thing and that in Inzamam's case, in view of his generally soft-spoken nature, it was more of a one-off incident. However, I think the fans received a lot more flak than the player, which in this case, wasn't quite the right thing. And, that was the general feeling in the crowd as well.

Krishna Kumar

Back