Fans heckle Praveen, Virat over India's poor performance (Amended)

Northampton (UK), Aug 7 (ANI): Indian bowler Praveen Kumar was involved in an ugly spat with a spectator after Team India lost to second division county team Northamptonshire on the basis of first innings lead.

Kumar allegedly caught a fan by his collar and pulled him out from the crowd after being constantly abused for the Indian team's bad performance.

The incident happened when the team was about to board their bus for the hotel.

Nearly ten thousand fans came to Northampton, a tiny county in England's East Midlands, to watch their team play in the practice match.

Fans also heckled batsman Virat Kohli, who has come into the squad as a replacement for injured Yuvraj Singh, resulting in the right hand batsman being removed from the boundary.

The poor performance by Team India in the practice match after the No. 1 team was thrashed in the first two Tests resulted in fans heckling the players.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was also booed by fans on Friday after he got out on 2.

A big crowd had come to watch the Indian team, even if it was not playing at its best and all the stands were packed with Indian faces, and the tricolour.

Similar incidents had happened after the end of the second Test at Nottingham where India slumped to one of their biggest defeats, losing to England by 319 runs inside four days.

There two fans of Indian origin started abusing the Indian players as they were returning to the team hotel after dinner.

The hotel authorities later handed the fans over to Nottingham police.

This is not the first time that Indian team has been heckled for its poor performances on the cricket field, nor is it the first time that a player has lost his cool over fan-related abuse.

Last year, during a Test series between India and Sri Lanka, middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh was involved in a war of words with fans during a training session before the third test.

During a one-day series tour of the West Indies, there was an altercation between some Indian cricketers and fans at a nightclub. It was instigated by a drunk gang of expats who were incensed with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja's performance in the2010 Twenty20 Worldup.

According to sources, the gang, comprising six or seven individuals, unleashed a torrent of abuse at Jadeja, leading to an altercation with players which has snowballed into a huge controversy in the wake of India's poor performance in the World T20.

The incident happened after India had lost to Sri Lanka in their last Super Eight match and been ousted from the tournament. Jadeja, it seems, was the fall guy as he had performed badly both with bat and ball.

The players involved Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Ravindra Jadeja and Piyush Chawla.

Though the players insisted that there was no brawl, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) issued show cause notices to them to explain their role in the incident that showed Indian cricket in poor light.

According to witnesses, Jadeja was having his food when some drunk Indian fans arrived and used four-letter words. They asked the cricketer to find some other corner in the restaurant. This was vehemently protested by opener Murali Vijay, who was also abused, and thereafter the incident blew up. y Praful Kumar Singh (ANI)