IND vs ENG: Fans attack KL Rahul with champagne corks, Virat Kohli gestures to 'throw them back'

IND vs ENG: Fans attack KL Rahul with champagne corks (Twitter/louist____28)

India's star opener KL Rahul had a tough time dealing with the unruly crowd in the ongoing Test against England at Lord's on Saturday. The 29-year-old, who scored a fine century in the first innings to help India propel to 364, was attacked by champagne corks while he was fielding at third man. 

The incident took place in the 69th over, forcing Virat Kohli to intervene as he was spotted communicating with Rahul in gestures, which suggested that the Team India skipper asked the player to throw it back at the stands.  

An over later, the TV visuals showed many champagne corks lying in the area where Rahul was fielding, an incident which irked the Indian cricketers. 

Many fans also took to Twitter to highlight the same and here are a few reactions:

Racist abuses during the first test match, now throwing a champagne bottle cork at KL Rahul..
Pathetic English fans. #ENGVIND #INDVENG pic.twitter.com/dk8gCRIYeA — Sneha  (@louist____28) August 14, 2021

Jis batsman ne 100 mara ho use champagne Cork marke pareshan krna is NOT FUNNY.#shame_on_Eng#KLRahul@ICC @BCCI #English #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/PnDc8zMssd — Nitin Yadav (@YNitin007) August 14, 2021

England Fans Are Throwing A Beer Cork To KL Rahul..!@englandcricket #INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/CqeuuqhL6L — A D H !™ (@AdhiIsHere) August 14, 2021

England crowd throwed wine cork at KL Rahul and Virat Kohli signals him to throw back at them  — Bruce Wayne (@Ajith_0605) August 14, 2021

Shameful behaviour from English crowd. Throwing campaign cork towards KL Rahul is not a good thing. Virat Kohli asked him to throw it back !#ENGvIND — Pratyush Mahapatra (@baba__pratyush) August 14, 2021

Coming to the game, England skipper Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow showed remarkable skill and determination to frustrate the Indian bowling attack in the opening session of Day 3.

At the lunch break, England's score read 216/3, still trailing the visitors by 148 runs. Root (89*) and Bairstow (51*) are currently unbeaten at the crease.

The first session saw 97 runs being scored from 28 overs and the hosts did not lose even a single wicket in the morning session.

Resuming at 119/3, England skipper Root brought up his half-century in just the second over of the day.

Root along with Bairstow saw out the first hour rather easily and it was the Indian bowlers who were put under a bit of pressure by the duo. In the first innings, India was bundled out for 364 and KL Rahul (129) was the top scorer for the visitors.

For England, James Anderson took a five-wicket haul and this was the pacer`s 31st fifer in the longest format.

- with ANI inputs