Shashi Tharoor became a fan of Abhishek Sharma; Scored a brilliant half century in Jamtha and got a standing ovation

By Samira Vishwas On Jan 22, 2026

Shashi Tharoor in Nagpur: The T20 international match held at Jamtha Stadium after 3 years turned the entire city into cricket fun. The excitement of Indian cricket fans was at its peak as they were going to get the opportunity to watch legends like Hitman Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli live. As soon as the final 11 was announced, there was disappointment among the spectators but everyone got happy after seeing the excellent play on the field.

The stadium is housefull

For security reasons and to avoid traffic jams, a huge crowd of fans started gathering outside the stadium from 2 pm onwards. The entire atmosphere was filled with patriotism with the tricolor waving, Bharat Mata ki Jai and slogans of ‘India-India’. There were long queues at the ticket counter in North Civil Lines, which made it clear that the passion of cricket lovers has not diminished.

Shashi Tharoor arrived to watch the match

A different atmosphere was created in the match when senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor was seen enjoying the match in the stadium. During the entire match, he sat in the spectators’ gallery and watched every detail of the game carefully. During the match, as soon as Abhishek Sharma completed his brilliant half-century, Shashi Tharoor stood up from his seat and greeted him with loud applause.

Wrapped up my Nagpur visit by catching #INDvNZT20I tonight in the stands, not in some hermetically-sealed air-conditioned box cut off from the excitement and clamor of the 45,000 audience. Ended up giving more selfies than New Zealand made runs, but thoroughly enjoyed the game… pic.twitter.com/C7Ehr2pxoL
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) January 21, 2026

His behavior presented a beautiful picture of sportsmanship. The spectators present in the stadium also considered this moment special and praised Abhishek Sharma’s innings. The presence of VIP spectators and Abhishek Sharma’s fifty further increased the excitement of the match.

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The passion for cricket was seen to such an extent that some fans reached the stadium in a different style. Fans from Nagpur and Vidarbha areas arrived with the Tricolor in their hands and became the center of attraction.

When 40,000 spectators sang the national anthem

Even before the match started, three-fourth of the spectators had arrived.
Both the teams reached the field, as soon as the Indian national anthem started, all the spectators present stood at their places and sang the national anthem.
The special thing was that before the national anthem of India, the national anthem of New Zealand was also played and at that time all the spectators remained standing in their places.