Mohammad Shami was at the receiving end of vile communal abuse by trolls online after India’s defeat to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup.
Shami was the target of a number of abusive comments on social media, particularly on his own posts.
Some of the netizens even wrote abusive comments on social media. One of the social media users wrote, “Bloody Pakistani in Team India”.
Another person wrote, “A Muslim sided with Pakistan. How much money did you receive?”
Following this former cricketers Virender Sehwag, Aakash Chopra and Irfan Pathan defended the pacer, who is the only Muslim player in the current Indian team.
Sehwag tweeted
Aakash Chopra, took to Twitter and wrote, “Online trolls are the ones who earlier used to burn effigies and throw paint-stones at player’s houses…with an online profile without a face worthy of a profile pic.”
Irfan Pathan too was shocked with the way things unfolded after the match. “Even I was part of #IndvsPak battles on the field where we have lost but never been told to go to Pakistan! I’m talking about ‘India’ of few years back. THIS CRAP NEEDS TO STOP. #Shami,” Irfan Pathan wrote.
Even the Indian Cricket Board came out in support of Shami somewhat with a tweet featuring him.
Will Kohli Speak Up?
The silence from the current Indian team and its captain Virat Kohli is deafening. Virat Kohli an individual known for displaying sportsmanship as seen in the aftermath of that defeat to Pakistan should have spoken against the abuse hurled at Mohammad Shami specifically targeted due to his religion.
Ironically before the match against Pakistan, the Indian team ‘took the knee’ to support the ‘Black Lives Matter’ Movement, ) a decentralized political and social movement protesting against incidents of police brutality and all racially motivated violence against black people.
But taking the knee becomes a meaningless gesture, if players cannot speak on social issues and even more so when one of them is targeted.
Mohammad Shami is a champion bowler and will continue to deliver to winning performances in the future but for now the support he needs from his teammates is yet to been seen publicly. It is quite possible that inside the Indian camp players and other would have already shown support to Shami and asked him dismiss this as nonsense and move ahead.
But a public statement will send a strong message to haters as well as the entire community that there is no place for hatred or discrimination in sports at any level.
Standing up or in this case kneeling for a cause rings hollow when you cannot publicly denounce the actions of people in your own country directed at your colleague. Virat Kohli being such a outspoken individual should throw his weight behind BLM as well the discrimination against the player of a particular religion.
There were calls on social media to send Mohammad Shami to Pakistan, while some were saying that people of his community cannot br trusted. Surely Team India has to show a united front and speak out on this. Maybe they see this as dismissive and don’t want to attach importance to such trolls, but sometimes being silent isn’t an option.
A gesture of some kind if not words will go a long way in showing such people that there is no place for bigotry in India. With current cricketers being the icons in this country it will be a message that cannot be ignored.
When English football players Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho were subjected to racial abuse following their penalty misses in the final of Euro 2020, captain Harry Kane came out and said they didn’t need such fans and called for strict action against them.
“Three lads who were brilliant all summer had the courage to step up & take a pen when the stakes were high. They deserve support & backing not the vile racist abuse they’ve had since last night. If you abuse anyone on social media you’re not an @England fan and we don’t want you,” Kane tweeted.
Will Indian captain Virat Kohli and his team say or do something similar to shut up the trolls and show that such actions have no place in sports or in the world at large? It’s high time that they do