Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar teared into “faceless trolls” who abused India’s frontline bowler Mohammed Shami online after India’s first-ever defeat to Pakistan in World Cup events.
“Those who are making such remarks, do they matter? I don’t think these faceless trolls matter. We don’t care what they have to say, because they have no identity,” said Sunil Gavaskar on India Today.
Gavaskar lauded the Indian captain Virat Kohli for backing his match-winning bowler against the trolls who attacked Shami’s religion after India’s 10-wicket loss to Babar Azam-led Pakistan in their campaign opener in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021.
“Good to see the way Virat Kohli and other team members have rallied behind Mohammad Shami. It is a great sign. Backing each other is the key. This is what we have seen over the last week,” said Gavaskar.
Ahead of the match against New Zealand, Kohli lashed out at “spineless trolls” for their unwarranted abuse and labelled their actions as the “most pathetic thing” one can do.
"There's a good reason why we are playing on the field and not some bunch of spineless people on social media that have no courage to actually speak to any individual in person," Kohli said.
“Attacking someone over their religion is the most, I would say, pathetic thing that a human being can do," the 32-year-old added.
Not just Kohli, many current and former cricketers including Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and others showed their support for Shami. Even Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan backed Shami and said that the sport is supposed to bring people together.
