Sunrisers Hyderabad opener Abhishek Sharma found himself at the centre of an unexpected off field incident in Jaipur after a video showing a fan grabbing his hand surfaced on social media.
(Also read: Abhishek Sharma breaks down his fashion playbook, says he's a fan of Yuvraj Singh's ‘sharp yet effortless’ style)
In the clip, Sharma is seen walking through a crowd of fans when a woman suddenly pulls his hand towards her. The cricketer appeared visibly startled by the interaction, while security personnel quickly stepped in to manage the situation and move him away from the crowd.
The woman was later identified as Himshikha Tripathi, who had shared the video on her Instagram account. The clip carried a text overlay in Hindi that read, “Girls tumhare jiju pyaar se nahi maan rahe the toh bas fir kuch aisa kiya mene,” which translates to, “Girls, your brother in law was not agreeing politely, so I ended up doing something like this.”
Watch the clip here:
{{/usCountry}}Watch the clip here:
{{/usCountry}}The video soon drew criticism online, with many users calling out the behaviour and stressing that public figures should not be touched without consent, even during fan moments.
Woman says she had no wrong intention
After facing backlash, Tripathi shared another post on Instagram explaining her side of the incident. She wrote, “With all due respect to Abhishek Sharma and his fans, I would like to share what actually happened from my side. Things are not always exactly how they appear online.”
She said she had gone to the venue after learning that Sharma was present there. “I was at a venue where Abhishek Sharma had arrived, and when I found out he was there, I went to see him because I've been a fan of his for a long time, even before he became this famous. I only wanted to shake his hand, but there was a huge crowd. In the rush, while I was trying to move and give space, I accidentally grabbed his hand instead of shaking it,” she added.
Tripathi further said that the moment happened quickly and was misunderstood after the video went viral. “Everything happened very quickly, and the moment got messed up. I got nervous, and my brother pulled me back right after. The video was recorded, and I posted it because that moment felt special to me. I genuinely didn't expect it to go viral or be misunderstood like this,” she wrote.
Tripathi also apologised in her post, saying, “I never had any wrong intention. I'm truly sorry if this hurt anyone's feelings. And I'm sorry, but some girls might still relate, fan moments can be anything you can imagine.”
Take a look here at the post:
At present, Tripathi has turned off comments on her Instagram post.