India skipper Rohit Sharma is the latest to comes in Arshdeep Singh's defence on the dropped catch furore which took place in the India-Pakistan's Super Four clash in the Asia Cup on Sunday (September 4).
Rohit addressed the press conference post India lost to Sri Lanka in their second Super Four clash on Tuesday (September 6) and hailed Arshdeep for the the way he handled the situation and bounced back bravely in both the matches. He also rubbished the social media reactions which have been quite extreme in the situation and blamed Arshdeep for the loss against Pakistan.
Internet trolls, however, were having none of it and decided to target the young cricketer after the defeat, targeting his Sikh identity by branding him ‘Traitor’ and ‘Khalistani’ among other things. “Khalistani” was in fact among the top trends on Twitter in India the morning after the defeat. It brought back memories of the way Mohammed Shami was trolled online after India’s loss to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup — also at the same venue last year.
When India captain Rohit Sharma was asked about social media reactions after the match against Sri Lanka, he said that the team doesn't look into such platforms as there's 'plenty of crap in it'.
"Arshdeep Singh was disappointed after the drop catch then he came back strongly in the 20th over. We don't look much into social media, there is lots of crap happening," he said in the post match press conference.
Meanwhile, the loss agains Sri Lanka has left the Men in Blue at the mercy of the other teams to have a chance of making it to the final. It also meant that India skipper Rohit Sharma's scintillating 41-ball 72 went in vain, as the islanders completed a chase of 174 with a ball to spare.
Needing 21 in 12 balls, Sri Lanka scored 14 runs off the penultimate over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, almost sealing it in their favour.
India will be out of the tournament if Pakistan beat Afghanistan on Wednesday.
"We need to find answers as a team, like where we are with five bowlers. We know now where we stand with this combination. No long-term worries, we have lost only two games back to back. Since the last World Cup, we haven't lost too many games. These games will teach us. We wanted to put ourselves under pressure in the Asia Cup. We are still looking for answers," Rohit said in the presentation ceremony.
Earlier, Gavaskar was also vocal on faceless trolls being given too much importance in Arshdeep Singh's case. Arshdeep missed an easy catch of Asif Ali during the dying moments of the game and was mercilessly trolled with his wikipedia page being vandalised.
"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 said.
India will next play Afghanistan in their third and the last Super Four clash on Thursday (September 8).
