They are not real Indians: Mohammed Shami breaks silence on online abuse post T20 WC defeat to Pakistan

KEY STORY

• Indian pace-bowler Mohammed Shami finally broke his silence over the abuse he suffered on social media after India’s defeat to arch-rivals Pakistan in the 2021 Men’s T20 World cup. Following the Babar Azam-led outfit’s 10 wicket victory in Dubai, Shami had to face online abuse based on religion as India lost a World Cup game to their neighbours for the first time in history.

• Following the hateful messages Shami received; various legends of the Indian cricket fraternity including Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and VVS Laxman came in strong support of him. Virat Kohli, who was the Indian captain during the global event gave a passionate rebuttal to those abusing Shami on social media in a press conference.

• Talking about the experience, Shami claimed that the trolls are neither real fans nor real Indians and claimed he does not pay a lot of attention to such comments. “There is no cure for this kind of thinking. Those who troll (on religion) are not real fans, nor are they real Indians. If you consider a player as a hero and then behave this way, you are not being an Indian supporter. And I feel one should not get hurt by comments made by such people,” Shami said to the Indian Express.

• “There was just one thing going on in my mind. If I consider someone as my role model, I will never speak ill about that person. And in case someone is saying something hurtful to me, he can’t be my fan or a fan of the Indian team. So actually, I don’t mind what he says,” he added.

  Shami further explained that such comments reflect the mindset and low-level of education of people and asserted he does not need to prove what the country means to him.

• “It is the mindset of people. It shows their low-level of education. When people with unknown social media profiles, or even one with a few followers, point fingers at someone, they don’t have anything to lose. For them, nothing is at stake because they are nobodies. But in case we react to them as a role model, as a celebrity, as an Indian cricketer, we are giving them undue importance. We don’t need to engage with them.

CONCLUSION

• “We know what we are, we don’t need to say what India means to us because we represent the country and we fight for our country. So we don’t need to prove anything to anyone by saying or reacting to such trolls,” concluded Shami.

  In the game against Pakistan, The Men in Blue failed to take a single wicket while defending a total of 151. Shami conceded 43 runs in 3.5 overs. The two teams will kickstart their 2022 T20 World Cup campaign against each other on 23rd October at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.