Bangladesh super fan Tiger Roby retracts assault claim during Kanpur Test after Police denies allegations

Tiger Roby, a self-proclaimed super fan of the Bangladesh cricket team, was unexpectedly taken to the hospital during the second Test against India at Kanpur's Green Park stadium on Friday. Initial rumors suggested that Roby may have been involved in a physical altercation, but police have since cleared the air stating that he simply fell ill.

Roby, who wears a tiger costume and is a regular at Bangladesh's matches, was in stand C and had to be carried out of the stadium in distress. During an interaction with the media after being rushed out of the stadium, indicated that he was punched in the abdomen during an altercation. However, he took a sharp U-turn on his earlier remark saying that he fell unwell during the Day 1 of the second Test match of the series and was given the requisite assistance by the local police.

"I fell ill and the police brought me to the hospital. Now I am feeling much better. My name is Roby and I have come from Bangladesh," he stated in a short video clip.

Abhishek Pandey, ACP (Kalyanpur), said that the Bangladeshi received immediate medical care, before brushing aside the assault speculation.

"During the Test match between India and Bangladesh, one of the spectators whose name is Tiger, suddenly fell ill," the officer stated.

"As soon as he fell ill, he was picked up by the police and was sent to the medical team for treatment. He is fine now and a liaison officer as been attached to him so that he can get help if needed.

"There were some reports of assault but these are baseless, no such incident happened with him. He might have taken a fall, this is what we have been able to gather," he added.

India opted to bowl first in a home Test match for the first time in nine years after Rohit Sharma won the toss. It was an eventful first session in Kanpur, which witnessed a delayed start due to wet outfield, with as many as five reviews used up by both teams.

Akash Deep was the pick of the bowlers with his 2 for 34, before R Ashwin picked up the third wicket to reduce Bangladesh to 107/3, before rain washed out the final session of the day. The visitors lost the opening game by an innings and 280 runs.