Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has said that fans should end such “ugly” scenes after many of them booed Mumbai Indians Captain Hardik Pandya at various grounds this Indian Premier League season (IPL).

“People should remember which country these players represent. It’s our country,” he said while answering a question from a viewer on his YouTube channel. “Fan wars should never take such an ugly route. I’ve said it many times, this is cinema culture, that happens only here.”

Mumbai under the new captain has so far not won a match. Pandya replaced Rohit Sharma as the new skipper of the team this season following the Indian team’s loss against Australia in the 50-over World Cup final.

Several fans booed the all-rounder when faced his former team Gujrat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Many cricket experts expressed concerns over it and maintained that they did not expect such behaviour from Sharma fans.

Ashwin blamed “fan wars” and “cinema culture” for such gestures and added that it was not found somewhere else in the world. He supported his statement by giving examples of former Indian cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid who played under each other’s captaincies.

He added that all fans have a collective responsibility to “correct ourselves” before blaming others.