Virat Kohli slams ‘spineless’ trolls after social media abuse on team’s bowler
Baaghi TV: Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli criticizes “spineless people on social media” after they abused team’s bowler Mohammad Shami regarding his religion after loss to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup cricket match.
In a press conference on Saturday, Kohli told reporters, “To me, attacking someone over their religion is the most pathetic thing that a human being can do,” Kohli told reporters in a press conference Saturday, ahead of India’s Sunday match against New Zealand.
Prior to India’s match against New Zealand on Saturday, Kohli retorted by saying “Everyone has the right to voice their opinion and what they feel about a certain situation, but I personally have never ever even thought of discriminating anyone over their religion — and that is a very sacred and a personal thing to every human being, and that should be left there.”
Being the only Muslim player in the Indian Cricket Team, Bowler Shami, was targeted by social media trolls who blamed him for India’s first ever loss to Pakistan in A T20 match along with certain Islamophobic messages.
Despite hateful social media comments urging Shami to leave India and go to Pakistan, Indian fans and media outlets claim that the comments were made by Pakistani bots supporting an anti-India agenda.
Kohli condemned the social media trolls and showed support to Shami saying he didn’t “want to waste one minute” responding to the commenters, whose “lack of self-confidence” and “lack of compassion” urged them to target Shami.
Journalists Barkha Dutt and Rana Ayyub earlier pointed out that it was ironic for the team to support the Black Lives Matter campaign but not condemn Islamophobia towards their own player.
“We stand by him fully, we’re backing him 200% and all those who have attacked him can come with more force if they want to,” Kohli said. “Our brotherhood, our friendship within the team — nothing can be shaken.”
He further added, “And I can guarantee you that as the captain of the team, that we have built a culture where these things will not even infiltrate into this environment 0.001%, and that is an absolute guarantee from my side.”
Denouncing the culture of social media trolling, the captain said it is “so unfortunate and so sad” that this has become “source of entertainment in today’s world,” and is an example of “literally the lowest level of human potential.”
India’s former cricket prodigy, Sachin Tendulkar called Shami “committed, world-class bowler”, while various Indian celebrities and politicians expressed support for Shami on social media.
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