WATCH: Babar Azam Booed by Crowd at Narendra Modi Stadium While Speaking at Toss

The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad echoed with loud cheers from fans when the captains – Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam – walked out for the toss. The fans erupted in joy as India won the toss and the skipper confirmed the return of Shubman Gill, who had missed out on the first two games due to dengue. But the environment at the venue turned bizarre when the jubilant spectators started booing the Pakistan captain.

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Since Babar lost the toss, he came on the mic after Rohit completed his conversation with commentator Ravi Shastri. The moment the Pakistan skipper began to speak, he received an unexpected gesture from the fans as they jeered him before the start of play.

The crowd’s gesture wasn’t appreciated by many as they expressed their disappointment on social media. Renowned journalist Rajdeep Sardesai took to microblogging site X and called out the crowd’s behaviour.

“Ahmedabad crowd booing @babarazam258 when he begins speaking at the toss. Not done. Sorry to all those in the city of my birth. this is NOT cricket. #INDvsPAK,” Sardesai tweeted.

Speaking at the toss, Babar said his team would have also bowled first but they are looking forward to enjoying the game at a jam-packed arena.

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“We also wanted to bowl first. We have had good two wins, momentum and confidence is high. Jam-packed stadium, we will enjoy it. We want to be good in the field, we had a couple of good practice sessions. Same team for us,” Babar said.

Earlier, Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to field first against Pakistan in Ahmedabad. The India captain said Shubman Gill is fit to play and has made his way back into the playing XI. Ishan Kishan has been benched while Ravichandran Ashwin also missed out.

“We will bowl first, cannot get bigger than this, fantastic atmosphere. Sure lot of us are going to experience something really extraordinary. It’s a good track, and not going to change much, dew could be a big factor and keeping that in mind, we want to bowl first. We want to keep striving for the best, we want to come out there and give our best in every game. Keeping the atmosphere in the team relaxed is the most important thing in a tournament like this,” Rohit said.

“Gill is back in place of Ishan, unfortunate for Ishan to miss out, feel for him, he stepped up when we needed him. Gill has been a special player for us over the past year or so, especially at this ground and we wanted him back,” he added.