The 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) began earlier this month, and the first week of action has served up some fantastic cricket so far, including several records falling.
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But even beyond the cricket, this season has been action-packed. A massive trade took place in the off-season before December's player auction as Mumbai Indians brought Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya back to his first franchise in a big-money deal.
'Didn't Ganguly, Tendulkar, etc play under Dhoni?' - R Ashwin calls for Rohit Sharma fans to stop booing Hardik Pandya
Pandya's return to Mumbai is undoubtedly the biggest trade to date in IPL history, but it has come with its own set of problems, as the MI management has seen fit to install him as captain, replacing Rohit Sharma.
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The move has not gone down well with fans of the current India captain. Apart from having a go at Hardik Pandya on social media, several also resorted to booing the all-rounder during MI's first match of the season against Gujarat Titans.
On Thursday, India off-spinner R Ashwin took to his YouTube channel to call for an end to these fanwars, and the 'cinema culture' creeping into cricket. He said,
It is a complete cinema culture. I accept there is a lot of branding, positioning etc. these days but still. Fanwars should not get ugly like this. Just because you [fans] don't like the move, will the team come out and explain everything?
Has this never happened before? Didn't Ganguly and Tendulkar play under each other, and Rahul Dravid? Or didn't they play under Anil Kumble or under Dhoni? When Dhoni was captain, all these guys were already legends of cricket. Didn't Dhoni also play under Virat Kohli? I think we all need to get our act together.
He went on to say that the current fan culture of dragging others down in name of supporting one's favourite needed to stop, saying, "this is one thing I would love to see disappear from the face of the earth."
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