Former India captain and famous batsman, Sunil Gavaskar, slammed anonymous trolls who criticized bowler Mohammed Shami following India’s 10-wicket loss versus Pakistan on 24 October. Shami was attacked on several social networking sites, most notably Instagram, where many people made insulting comments about his religion and his principles.
The bowler had a dismal game on a day when nothing went right for India, as Pakistan defeated them for the very first time in World Cup history. Shami ended up being one of the most expensive bowler on the occasion and was became subject to a social media backlash.
Those who are making such remarks on Shami doesn’t matter: Gavaskar
“Those who are making such remarks, do they matter? I don’t think these faceless trolls matter. We don’t care what they have to say, because they have no identity,” said Sunil Gavaskar.
Prior to India’s match against New Zealand, Indian captain Virat Kohli came out in favour of Shami, dismissing the “spineless” trolls that, have no respect for the players.
“Attacking someone over their religion is the most, I would say, the pathetic thing that a human being can do,” Kohli said.
“Everyone has the right to voice their opinion but I personally have never even thought of discriminating someone over their religion. This is literally the lowest potential as a human being one can operate at.”
“There’s a reason we are playing on the field and not those spineless people. Many people hide their identity in social media then try to troll the players and it is the lowest point in their life – all dramas outside due to the lack of self-confidence of them, we know how to back the players, there is no value from the outside voice.”
“That [religious beliefs] is a very sacred and a personal thing to every human being and that should be left there. People take out their frustrations because they obviously have no understanding of what we do as individuals. They have no understanding of how much effort we put on the field,” he added.
Lauding Kohli for coming forward and taking the much-needed stance, Gavaskar said: “Good to see the way Virat Kohli and other team members have rallied behind Mohammad Shami. It is a great sign. Backing each other is the key. This is what we have seen over the last week.”
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