After five-time Indian Premier League champions Mumbai Indians began their campaign in the 17th edition of the league with two successive losses on the road, the hatred against new captain Hardik Pandya isn’t solely limited to social media trolling but has gone way beyond that.

Following his switch from last season’s runner-up Gujarat Titans to MI, Pandya was hysterically booed all through his team’s IPL 2024 campaign opener in Ahmedabad, his home venue for the past two seasons. The anger was apparently because of Gujarat’s sense of betrayal after the all-rounder led GT to successive IPL finals including the title in 2022.

While the public sentiment in Ahmedabad could be understood, Pandya faced similar booing during his team’s second outing against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

Reacting strongly to the treatment meted out to his India teammate, star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin came out in support of Hardik, while blaming India’s “fan wars” and “cinema culture” for the nasty behaviour.

Answering a question from a viewer on his social media channel on whether Mumbai should issue a statement to diffuse the situation, Ashwin put the onus back on the fans, saying it lays with the fans, not the team, to “get our act together” and put an end to such “ugly” scenes.

“People should remember which country these players represent. It’s our country. Fan wars should never take such an ugly route. I’ve said it many times, this is cinema culture, that happens only here,” he said.

“I know there are many things like marketing, branding, and positioning. I don’t deny it, but have you seen these fights happen in any other country? Have you seen, for instance, Joe Root and Zak Crawley fans have a fight? Or Joe Root and Jos Buttler fans fight? It’s crazy. Do you see Steven Smith fans fighting with Pat Cummins fans in Australia?”

Citing examples of the past, where senior cricketers played under younger captains with minimal fuss or backlash from the fans, Ashwin said, “I don’t understand. If you don’t like a player and boo him, why should the club come out and issue a clarification? We act like this has not happened before.”

“Sourav Ganguly played under Sachin Tendulkar and vice versa. These two have both played under Rahul Dravid. These three have played under Anil Kumble and all of them have played under MS Dhoni. When they were under Dhoni, these players were cricket jambhavans (giants). Dhoni too played under Virat Kohli.”

Ashwin said that while fans have the freedom to support and cheer for their favourite player, but not at the cost of putting the other players down. He also reminded fans of their collective responsibility to sort the mess and explained that cinema can’t be compared directly to sports.

“You know what the issue is? We all happily sit inside our houses and look at the trash outside. We expect someone else to pick it up instead of doing it ourselves. This is real-time sport. Sport has real players with real emotions, nothing is scripted. Hero and hero worshiping is great, but sport should never be compared to cinema. How we go beyond that, counter it and find balance to play cricket is what this is all about,” he said.

“You are free to enjoy what you like about your favourite players or team, but not at the cost of putting another player down. This is one thing I’d love to see disappear from the face of the earth in our country,” the 37-year-old added.

After two successive away losses, Pandya’s Mumbai will play their first home game of the season against Ashwin’s Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.