India captain Virat Kohli on Saturday has hit back at spineless social media trolls, throwing his weight behind Pacer Mohammed Shami who suffered horrid abuse after India’s loss to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup opener on Sunday, 24 October. Kohli said targetting people for their faith is “the most pathetic thing to do.”
Mohammad Shami, who endured an off day in India’s 10-wicket defeat to Pakistan was trolled and attacked for his religion.
At the pre-match press conference, with India playing against New Zealand in Dubai on Sunday, Kohli said, “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,” he said.
“They hide behind their identities and go after people through social media, making fun of people and that has become a social entertainment in today’s world, which is so unfortunate and so sad to see.” he added.
The skipper talking about his take on social media abuse, termed it as the “lowest level of operative human potential.”
“This is literally the lowest level of human potential that one can operate at and that’s how I look at these people,” Kohli said.
While calling the abuse pathetic, his captain stood by him. “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 over what they feel about a certain situation, but I personally have never ever even thought of discriminating anyone over their religion. That’s a very sacred and personal thing to every human being.”
Hitting out at Shami’s critics, Virat said that the team is fully behind the fast bowler.
“People take out their frustrations because they obviously have no understanding of what we do as individuals. They have no understanding of how much effort we put on the field. They have no understanding of the fact that someone like Mohammad Shami has won India a number of matches in the last few years and he’s been our primary bowler with Jasprit Bumrah, when it comes to making an impact in games,”
The skipper said that he doesn’t want to waste time of losers, who overlook the fact that Mohammad Shami has made great contributions to India, by winning several matches in the last few years.
“If people can overlook that and his passion for his country, honestly I don’t even want to waste one minute of my life to give any attention to those people, and neither does Shami and neither does anyone else in the team.”
“We stand by him fully. We are backing him 200 per cent, and all those who have attacked him, can come with more force if they want to. Our brotherhood, our friendship within the team, nothing can be shaken.”
(With inputs from PTI)
