The Indian cricket team was decimated by the Pakistani side in its first encounter in the T20 World Cup in Dubai on Sunday (October 24). The defeat was humiliating and left the Indian cricket fans with a sour taste in their mouths as India’s invincible 12-0 record against Pakistan in the World Cup’s came to a halt.
Naturally, a bunch of angry netizens took to targeting Indian players on social media platforms. While some called out Kohli and his team for focusing on woke agendas like ‘taking the knee’ rather than focusing on cricket, some called out the individuals for their performance.
Read More: Indian Cricket Team took the knee for Blacks, slain Hindus in Bangladesh have no takers
Every single player got the tap
In short, nobody was spared. However, the liberals of the country once again took up the opportunity and milked it to full effect by claiming that only Mohammed Shami was targeted and that too because of his Muslim identity. Akin to the entire drug arrest saga of Aaryan Khan where the liberal media claimed that Shahrukh’s son was only targeted because he was Muslim.
The controversy was first ignited by a Pakistani journalist named Mubasher Lucman who alleged that Shami was made the ‘scapegoat’ by Indian skipper Virat Kohli who bowled him the final over i.e. the eighteenth over.
He stated, “I was listening to the commentators and they were saying that Virat Kohli made Shami bowl the critical over. I began thinking as to why the Indian skipper did such a thing. I mean he had a lot of other bowling options. I was watching the match with my wife when I realised that it was done to make a Muslim player the target.”
Indian liberals and their unique spin to the controversy
However, the Indian liberals provided their own spin to the topic, possibly making up for the spin that the Indian team spinner’s failed to extract last evening on a good batting pitch.
Barkha Dutt, out of the blue equated Black Lives Movement to the manufactured controversy of Shami being trolled for his religion. She tweeted, “Is the Indian cricket team going to take a gratuitous knee for Black Lives Matter, entirely disconnected from the Indian reality, but stay silent on the bigoted online attacks against Mohd Shami? We expect better @imVkohli”
Is the Indian cricket team going to take a gratuitous knee for Black Lives Matter, entirely disconnected from the Indian reality, but stay silent on the bigoted online attacks against Mohd Shami? We expect better @imVkohli .
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) October 25, 2021
Fiction writer at propaganda portal ‘The Wire’ Aarfa Khanum Sherwani, the most communalized of the lot also didn’t miss out on the opportunity. She tweeted, “Great that you oppose racism and showed empathy for the Black Americans. Now try to get up and stand up for your own colleague, your fellow Indian player Mohammed Shami and show that you oppose communalism too.
Great that you oppose racism and showed empathy for the Black Americans.
Now try to get up and stand up for your own colleague, your fellow Indian player Mohammed Shami and show that you oppose communalism too. pic.twitter.com/0kSp13GIeV— Arfa Khanum Sherwani (@khanumarfa) October 25, 2021
Gurmehar Kaur, the liberal champion who threw his father who served in the army under the bus to gain some woke points quickly jumped in on the controversy and pretended to show her solidarity with Shami. She tweeted, “We love you @MdShami11 !!”
We love you @MdShami11!!
— Gurmehar Kaur (@mehartweets) October 25, 2021
Hatred for a party transcended to hatred for cricket fans
Of course, every single cricket fan loves Mohammed Shami and more so his off-field demeanor. Nobody chastened him but just like other Indian players, he had to cop the blame for the defeat equally. Just because some anonymous bot accounts targeted Shami using his religious identity, doesn’t mean the real Indian fans plummeted that low to disparage their star player.
The extent of hatred for Narendra Modi as the leader of the country has transcended to such levels that the opposition doesn’t want to waste any opportunity to communalize any event, sports, and especially cricket notwithstanding.
Delhi’s Congress’ national media coordinator Radhika Khera mocked the Team India supporters, called them Modi bhakts and tweeted, “क्यों भक्तों, आ गया स्वाद? करवा ली बेइज़्ज़ती ???” (Yes, supporters, did you like it? How does it feel like to be humiliated?)
क्यों भक्तों, आ गया स्वाद ?
करवा ली बेइज़्ज़ती ???
— Radhika Khera (@Radhika_Khera) October 24, 2021
Understand the broader ideology at work in the liberal cabal of the country. For them, anyone supporting the Indian cricket team is Bhakt and thus, as a corollary, they need to play the religion card to drive the point further. Shami, being a Muslim and having an off-day presented the perfect opportunity for the real, communal bigots of the country to drive the wedge.
Cricket is cruel at times. The players understand that it is the occupational hazard of the job that when 1.3 billion are cheering for you, some will get angry when the team does not perform at its optimum. It was a loss, the netizens vented, players were blamed and we moved on. That should have been the natural course of action but for the liberal intelligentsia, it was a communal event.
