A loud cry rings out through the small lanes of Hanmantwadi, a modest village near Kolhapur. In this area of humble homes and farms, two neighboring houses are grieving an awful loss – all because of an argument over a cricket match.
65-year-old Bandopant Tibile is dead after a heated fight with his 70-year-old neighbor Balwant Jhanjge. The fight happened while they were watching their beloved Mumbai Indians team play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament.
It was the first day of the New Year, but Tibile’s weeping mother cannot feel happy as village elders console her inside their simple home.
“They were just watching a cricket game. The argument started because of something that happened in the match,” says Tibile’s son Vijay, holding back tears. “The big lesson is to not get too emotional over sport. When will we treat it as just a game?”
As the latest IPL tournament excites India, toxic fights have broken out between fans of star players Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma, Mumbai’s new and former captains. While rivalry between different teams’ fans is normal, hatred between fans of individual players is quite new in Indian cricket.
Pandya was booed at Mumbai’s stadium after controversially switching from Gujarat Titans days after Rohit’s Indian team was the runner-up in the World Cup. Police in plain clothes guarded Pandya for his safety due to the tense atmosphere.
But the real tragedy happened far from IPL’s glamorous stadiums in tiny Hanmantwadi. It came when Tibile died after simply saying “Mumbai Indians will lose” during their match against Hyderabad. His vicious beating by Jhanjge, a huge Mumbai fan, has left the peaceful village speechless.
“It’s a modest farming village with people living simple lives, far from city crowds. Cricket is popular but such hatred over IPL is unheard of,” says village head Sangram Bhapkar. Football rivals cricket’s popularity here, and no IPL team or player is from this remote Kolhapur area, half a day’s journey from Mumbai.
Yet the IPL craze has everyone hooked, with a recent lottery winner making 1 crore from fantasy league betting. “People label themselves ‘Mumbai Indians’ or ‘Chennai fans’ now and fight over it,” says Police Officer Ravi Jadhav, who knew the ill-fated neighbors.
On March 27th evening, Tibile and Jhanjge gathered with others to watch Mumbai play Hyderabad like usual. But simple banter turned ugly when Tibile taunted “Mumbai will lose now!” after a wicket fell. An enraged Jhanjge violently attacked Tibile, who died two days later – shaking Hanmantwadi.
“We’re talking about two elderly men, not passionate youths, whose cricket obsession led to this tragedy,” says stunned Inspector Kishor Shinde, planning an awareness drive. “There’s a limit to how much one should obsess over entertainment. The cricket board, government – someone must teach fans that sport is just sport.”
As IPL fever peaks, community TV cricket viewing replaces old days of watching films together. But Tibile’s senseless death proves games cannot be taken so seriously that human lives are risked over fandom.