“The most pathetic thing a person can do”: Indian cricket captain makes blatant statement in support of his Muslim colleague

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli criticized the “invertebrate trolls” in a furious comment this weekend about the fierce attack by his teammate Mohammed Sham after India lost to Pakistan in a cricket match.

Kohli broke his silence nearly a week after he was asked about the beating, even though most of his teammates did not initially respond to the attack on Shami.

“Attacking for someone’s religion is the most pathetic thing a person can do,” the skipper said. “Everyone has the right to express their views on what they think of a particular situation, but I never even thought I was being discriminated against. [against] anyone over their religion. It is a very sacred and personal thing for every person. “

“People on social media see their frustration because they have no idea what players as individuals are doing,” Kohli said, adding that “if people can forget Sham’s passion for his country, he doesn’t want to waste a minute. do Shami and no one else on the team. “

He added: “There’s a good reason we’re playing on the field and not social media invertebrates who don’t have the courage to talk to anyone in person. They hide next to their entities and go after people through social media mocking people. And it’s become a social pandemic in today’s world. so unfortunate and sad to see, because this is literally the lowest level of human potential to work. “

Kohl’s comments were widely praised for the communal harassment he faced.

“While former cricketers had tried to defend Sham by forgiving a rare ‘day off’, they chose to avoid the communal nature of the abuse Sham faced,” the editorial Indian Express said Monday. “Kohli looks this disagreement in the eye and calls it what it is … Kohli calls the bluff of those who are always ready to shout the dog’s whistle and turn the sport to polarization.”

Several others also said they respected his decision to defend his teammate.

Muslim cricketer Shami was subjected to a malicious and fanatical attack on social media and was wrongly accused of throwing the match after Pakistan won the Indian T20 World Cup in its opening match in Dubai on 24 October.

Several Indian Twitter handles flagged the player in tweets asking him and his family to “go to Pakistan” – a common formulation of extremist Hindus against Indian Muslims accusing them of disloyalty to their homeland. As Hindu nationalism grows, Muslims – a minority group in India – are routinely accused of supporting Pakistan and because of their religion.

At first, no one from the Indian cricket team spoke on behalf of Sham, but support began to take hold after cricketers were criticized for their silence on social media, and some showed the team knelt for the Black Lives Matter movement before the game. Many asked why players made an anti-racism gesture even though they were silent about injustice at home.

However, Kohl’s statement in support of his colleague did not go well for a few hard-line Twitter users, some of whom accused the cricketer of denigrating Hindus. Many highlighted the threat of rape posed by an anonymous user to her ten-month-old daughter.

Vitriol didn’t end there. Several Twitter users said they hoped the Indian team would lose their next cricket match in retaliation.

This is happening even though the Indian government recently arrested some Muslim citizens accusing them of celebrating India’s defeat in a previous match.

There were several cases of blatant Islamophobia in India after its defeat to the Pakistani cricket team.

Other students attacked several engineering colleges from Punjab in the federal region of Kashmir.

A private school teacher in the western state of Rajasthan was fired and eventually arrested for sharing celebratory WhatsApp status after winning the match. The woman was alleged to have published a picture of Pakistani players and had the text in Hindi: “We won”.

Adityanath, the prime minister of Uttar Pradesh and leader of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party, claimed Pakistan’s victorious people were accused of rebellion. Since then, state police have arrested seven people for presenting pro-Pakistan slogans.

Kashmir police last week registered cases under medical anti-terrorism law in which medical college students had celebrated the Pakistani team’s victory.