Legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar on Friday (May 20) faced the wrath of the fans on social media for his distasteful remark on Shimron Hetmyer during the IPL 2022 match between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Earlier this month, Hetmyer left the Royals’ bio-secure bubble to be with his wife, who gave birth to their first child. After missing two games, the southpaw re-joined the RR camp and featured in his team’s last league fixture against CSK.

Chasing 151 to win, the Royals were in a spot of bother at 104/4 after 14.5 overs when Hetmyer came out to bat.

Upon his arrival in the middle, Gavaskar made a controversial comment that infuriated the fans on social media.

"Hetmyer's wife has delivered, will he deliver for the Royals?" Gavaskar was heard saying during commentary.

The comment didn’t go down well with the netizens with some even demanding his ouster from the commentary panel.

Here are the reactions:

Coming to the match, Rajasthan Royals got over the line with five wickets in hand and two deliveries to spare. While RR lost Jos Buttler (2), Sanju Samson (15) and Devdutt Padikkal (3) cheaply, young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal held the one end firmly and played a stunning knock of 44-ball 59.

After Jaiswal’s dismissal, R Ashwin took the onus and once again proved his worth with the willow. Amid the pressure situation, the spin all-rounder produced a match-winning knock of 23-ball 40* (2 fours and 3 sixes) to guide RR home.

With this victory, RR didn’t only qualify for the playoffs but also moved to the second spot on the points table. They will now face the Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 on May 24 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.