Former Indian cricket player Robin Uthappa has harshly slammed the animosity between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) supporters, saying that the rivalry has become personal and has gone beyond the bounds of sportsmanship.
The two sides recently faced off at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in a thrilling match that was decided by the final ball and won by Rajat Patidar’s team. But for a variety of unjustified reasons, the post-match scenes outside the stadium garnered more attention since some RCB fans were spotted making fun of CSK fans. After some video surfaced showing women being heckled as well, Uthappa reacted angrily. Having played for both teams during his career, the former IPL cricket player expressed disgust with the behaviour, calling it disorderly.
“That was quite intense. One thing I noticed that I felt was offensive was that they were making fun of the team and its players outside the stadium as the bus was departing. The other thing I witnessed was the fans squabbling among themselves. To be honest, it seemed shady to witness ladies being heckled. Even in Chennai last year, we witnessed it, which was also unnecessary. On his YouTube channel, Uthappa told Jarrod Kimber, “It’s not on at all.”
RCB – CSK fans going too far.
Passionate fans fuel cricket, but some go too far, fighting, mocking players, heckling others. Seen it with many teams, same last year.
Watch the full video here:https://t.co/CeVyVnfUnN pic.twitter.com/eW3Ci6ENGM
— Robbie Uthappa (@robbieuthappa) May 17, 2025
It was really intense: Robin Uthappa
The 39-year-old also thought back to how the five-time champions were made fun of by RCB supporters, who brought up their two-year suspension. Because to a spot-fixing incident, the CSK team was prohibited from playing in the IPL in 2016 and 2017. The rivalry was overdone by a segment of the audience who displayed jail-style jerseys bearing the name of veteran MS Dhoni. “This is going beyond sports and should be taken into consideration,” he said.
“It has gotten really heated. For the two years that CSK was banned, they are displaying jerseys, which are white T-shirts with black lines on them. On it, Thala and MS’ number are sort of scrawled, indicating that they were incarcerated for two years or whatever. I’m worried because it’s starting to go beyond sports. Uthappa continued, “Because this is a sport after all.”




