- Soon after the Indian cricket team was mauled by the Pakistani team in the ongoing World Cup T20 cricket tournament in UAE, the jingoistic army out on the prowl to pounce on anything and everything which they construe as anti-national were at it again. Completely ignoring that the sporting field should be devoid of bigotry, religious chauvinism, hatred, and unwarranted rhetoric, people unmindful of upholding the virtues of humanism are going ballistic targeting a Muslim cricketer for the ignominious loss. By singling out Indian pace spearhead Mohammed Shami and abusing him as a traitor, Pakistani, and anti-social is simply unacceptable.
PC: Aliafzal
- Such derogatory comments of the most despicable kind uttered in poor taste should have no place whatsoever in any sporting arena, leave alone a civilized country. As was seen right from the first delivery itself, the Indian team was completely outplayed by Pakistan in every department of the game. The margin of victory greatly signifies resounding thumping inflicted by the team. Mind you, there is no shame in accepting the same and moving ahead. No less than the Indian Captain Virat Kohli admitted as much whilst conceding that they were outplayed. Unfortunately, there are numerous trolls and hate speech mongers out there who simply are not qualified to even understand the basic nuances of the sport but consider themselves as no less than experts while passing on vicious comments.
- When quizzed on this at a presser, Kohli was at his belligerent best to counter it. The captain forcefully laid out what is wrong with such bigotry in general and in cricket specifically. Firstly, he correctly mentioned that religion is a very sacred and personal thing to every human being, so it should be left there. Secondly, he questioned the rationality of terming Shami as disloyal given that he has been the primary bowler alongside Jasprit Bumrah in recent years winning India any number of matches. Kohli also underlined that while anonymous handles on social media play this pathetic game, it has not even 0.0001% room in the Indian team. Further, he went on to elaborate that it is plain antithetical to competing at the international level, where win or lose the cricketers must stick together, back individuals, focus on strengths, and get ready for the field again.
PC:
- Cricket may have been classified as religion in our country as passions run extremely high where fanatic fans expect the team to win every time it plays against the opposition. More specifically against Pakistan where a league game is considered by many as a final before the finale and hence, defeat is simply intolerable. However, cricket is just a sport where winning or losing is part of the outcome. Tell that to an insane voice. As much of all this hatred is fomented on social media, where algorithms reward negative comments, it is notable that Kohli made his consequential intervention at an old-fashioned press conference. In a country where the love of cricket is shared by all, his words shall be heard by all for sure. May they also be heeded.
