Fans shout 'out of stadium', Virat Kohli comes over and requests crowd in India's practice

The ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 is currently underway in Australia, where a total of 16 teams are competing for the ultimate glory in the shortest format of the game. Team India is still waiting to play its first match of the tournament, which is scheduled to take place on October 23 in Melbourne. Ahead of their opening game of the T20 World Cup 2022, Indian players were spotted practicing in the nets at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). 

Among those who were training in the nets was former India captain Virat Kohli. Kohli was practicing with several fans standing behind him to watch him play up close. The stadiums in Australia allow fans to watch their favourite players train in the nets from close quarters. During Team India's practice session on Thursday, one of the fans, who were standing behind the nets at the MCG, shouted "out of the stadium" when Kohli was batting in the nets. 

A video of the incident is going viral on social media. In the video, Kohli can be heard politely asking the fan to keep quiet saying that the noise was distracting him. "Yaar practice ke time main bolo mat, distraction hoti hai (Please don't speak during practice, it distracts me)," Kohli said. The post has garnered more than 1,00,000 views since being shared last evening. 

India vs Pakistan

India is slated to play arch-rivals Pakistan in their first match of the ongoing T20 World Cup on Sunday. The match is likely to be affected by rain, according to the Australian meteorological department.   

The last time India and Pakistan played against each other was in the Super 4 stage of the ACC Men's T20 Asia Cup 2022. Pakistan beat India in the match to cement their place in the final of the competition. Earlier, India recorded a five-wicket win over Pakistan in the group stage of the same competition. Prior to meeting in the Asia Cup, India and Pakistan locked horns in last year's T20 World Cup in the UAE. They met in the group stage of the tournament. Pakistan handed India a crushing 10-wicket defeat to register their first-ever win against the Men in Blue in a World Cup match. 

India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami. Backup players: Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur. 

Image: Twitter