Some people issued rape threats to Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma’s nine-month-old daughter. Reason the Indian cricket team captain supported Mohammed Shami and called out religious discrimination, unequivocally.
Mohammed Shami faced harsh online abuse after India lost to arch-rival Pakistan by 10 wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on October 24. The tweet comes at a time when captain Kohli is facing vitriolic trolling for speaking in support of his Muslim teammate Mohammed Shami.
Who was attacked online after the cricket team faced a 10-wicket defeat against Pakistan in the ongoing Men’s T20 World Cup. Shami was subjected to vicious online trolling and abuse on Instagram and Twitter soon after the match between the two teams, in which he conceded 43 runs in 3.5 overs, ended.
Issuing a strong statement slamming trolls who were questioning Shami’s ‘patriotism’, Kohli said: “To me, attacking someone over their religion is the most pathetic thing that a human being can do. Everyone has the right to voice their opinion and what they feel about a certain situation. But personally, I have never, ever, even thought of discriminating someone over their religion. That is a very personal and sacred thing to every human being and that should be left there. People take out their frustrations because they have no understanding of what we do as individuals and how much effort we put on the field.”
In what now seems to be a disturbing trend, former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s five-year-old daughter Ziva Dhoni was also issued rape threats following his performance during IPL 2020 in October.
Cricket may be one of the most popular games in India, it may have die-hard fans, but some of these so-called fans readily embody toxic masculinity on social media when the team does not match their expectations.
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Their ‘love’ for the game is forgotten, and what is left over is pure hate. ‘Blaming’ and directing vile messages towards actor Anushka Sharma every time Kohli-led India’s performance lets fans down is almost a textbook response now – in turn leading to it being ‘normalised.’
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