Young India pacer Arshdeep Singh was the target of the trolls, specially from Pakistan, who even defaced his Wikipedia page branding him a ‘Khalistani’.
Team India pacer Mohammed Shami is a former teammate of Arshdeep Singh in Punjab Kings IPL franchise. Shami knows Arshdeep well and has first-hand knowledge of online trolls having experienced the same last year. Shami was brutally trolled on social media after Team India lost by 10 wickets to Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2021 clash.
This time around young India pacer Arshdeep Singh was the target of the trolls, specially from Pakistan, who even defaced his Wikipedia page branding him a ‘Khalistani’. Arshdeep had dropped a sitter of Pakistan batter Asif Ali in the 18th over of the game which ultimately proved costly for India in their five-wicket loss to Pakistan.
In an exclusive interview with Times Now, Shami said that trolls are not seen when the team performs well and claimed it is easy to send such messages from fake accounts. “They only live to troll us, have no other job. When we perform well they don’t say you took a good catch but will troll us?” Shami told Times Now channel.
“Agar dam hai toh real accounts se aaye na, fake account se toh koi bhi msg kar sakta hai (If you have the audacity, then comes from real accounts; anyone can
message from fake accounts),” he added.
Shami went on to say that he has also experienced trolling in the past but his country has always stood up for him. He also backed Arshdeep to shine in the future. “I’ve faced this and it doesn’t affect me because my country stands up for me. I’ll only say to Arshdeep, don’t let this hamper you because your talent is immense,” Shami added.
Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar was also vocal on faceless trolls being given too much importance in Arshdeep Singh’s case. “No former cricketer has criticised Arshdeep. Who are these people who are critical of Arshdeep? Why do we need to give credence to them? How many of them can catch the ball that flies into the stands? Rarely anyone. So how does their comments matter,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
