Mumbai Indians’ Suryakumar Yadav was hailed on social media for calmly diffusing Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli’s aggressive tactics during their IPL 2020 match in Abu Dhabi. The two were seen exchanging long stares.

The incident occurred in the 13th over of the Mumbai chase, with Suryakumar, at No.3, anchoring the team in their pursuit of 166. Suryakumar pushed a delivery to covers, which was fielded by Kohli, who, in a visible attempt to get under the skin of the batsman, walked to the crease right up to Suryakumar. It was unclear if Kohli directed verbal chatter at him.

Suryakumar looked unflustered, staring back at the approaching India captain, and stood his ground, refusing to budge from his batting crease even as Kohli stood right next to him, glancing at the batsman repeatedly while wiping the ball in his hand. Suryakumar stood for a whole 15 seconds before walking away to his non-striker Krunal Pandya, Kohli still staring at him.

Shameful Act By #ViratKohli This Is The Biggest Reason Why I Hate @imVkohli He never shows a Sportsman's Spirit in the #IPL.#Kohli deserved to lose the match And I am very happy that he lost the match.#RCBvsMI#MI#IPL2020#Suryakumaryadhav#Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/U0HKij0nFy

— Nikita Malviya🇮🇳 (@NkMalviya10) October 29, 2020

Shameful act by virat kohli and no reason for sledge to Surya Kumar Yadav #SuryakumarYadav pic.twitter.com/y4mtnzq2j5

— Sam (@sameersheikh45) October 29, 2020

Wrong on so many levels.
Kohli did this to an Indian player that too an uncapped player.
Kohli's stature got lowered here. And this is not some competition between countries bt among clubs. And it happens for 2 months unlike football which is all around the year.

— Prohpecy2094 (@prohpecy2094) October 28, 2020

Stare between Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli, Sky looking frustrated for not getting picked and it was visible in his expressions. pic.twitter.com/sZY3lMnlxx

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) October 28, 2020

A cheap way to deal. Absolutely zero class. 😐#Kohli pic.twitter.com/NlMTOTk1dE

— निश्चल शर्मा 🇮🇳 (@nischl_sharma) October 28, 2020

Instead of an aggressive stare to SKY, Kohli would have given some type of assurance for the future team selection.
King Kohli missed that brownie points pic.twitter.com/kjFEeodhg5

— Godman Chikna (@Madan_Chikna) October 29, 2020

What Kohli has done, it will going to malign his image. Despite playing for long he has to bring these kind of tactics, which eventually disheartening. Rightly implies why naseeruddin shah said he is worst behaved cricketer in the world.#ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/EFghDsaWZ0

— Rounak singh (@TheRksingh7) October 29, 2020

I am sorry Kohli has to stop these petty things. That's the difference between a great player and a great leader. He has achieved great things, so why be silly like Gambhir. Be like Sachin, Dhoni, Dravid. You are Indian team captain so there is going to be lot of criticism.

— வேணாம் (@sillymsdian7) October 28, 2020

Eventually, Suryakumar let his bat do the talking, scoring a fluent 43-ball 79 and guiding the team to the target in the final over. After the winning runs were hit, the cameras panned to Suryakumar, who was seen tapping his chest and pointing at himself, as if to gesture ‘I belong here’, a celebration made popular by footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.

There has been considerable buzz around the performances of the 30-year-old Suryakumar, who is yet to break into the Indian team despite scoring heavily in domestic cricket. In the IPL, he has been one of Mumbai’s most consistent performers three years running now, having already compiled over 300 runs this season; he scored 424 and 512 runs in 2019 and 2018 respectively.

Surya namaskar 🙏🏻. Stay strong and patient @surya_14kumar #MIvsRCB pic.twitter.com/oJEJhekwpC

— Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) October 28, 2020

He was one of the names in contention for a spot in India’s T20I team, but missed out on the 16-man squad for the three-T20I series in India’s tour to Australia starting November.