DUBAI: A livid India captain Virat Kohli on Saturday hit back at “spineless trolls” who attacked Mohammed Shami’s religion after the team lost to Pakistan in its inaugural T20 World Cup game and said targeting people for their faith is “the most pathetic thing” to do.
Shami, who endured an off day in India’s 10-wicket defeat, was trolled on Instagram for his Muslim identity.
“Attacking someone over their religion is the most, I would say, pathetic thing that a human being can do,” skipper Kohli didn’t mince words on the eve of his team’s crucial match against New Zealand when asked about the trolling that his senior pacer faced.
For Kohli, social media trolls are nothing but a bunch of “spineless” people, who don’t have the courage to face real people in real life.
“There is 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
A lot of star players, including Sachin Tendulkar, had posted messages in support of Shami during the furore.
“Everyone has the right to voice their opinion and what they feel about a certain situation, but I personally have never ever even thought of discriminating (against) anyone over their religion.
“That is a very sacred and a personal thing and that should be left there,” Kohli said.
The skipper said that he doesn’t want to waste time on losers, who overlook the fact that Shami had made some great contributions for the country.
“….Mohammed Shami has won India number of matches in the last few years and has been our primary bowler with Jasprit Bumrah when it comes to making an impact in games in Test cricket.
“If people can overlook that…I honestly 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,” the Indian skipper said.
Kohli reminded the naysayers that the bond among the team members is so strong that this kind of chatter doesn’t infiltrate the protective shield they have created for themselves.
“We stand by him fully. We are backing him 200 per cent. And all those who have attacked can come in more force if they want to… Our brotherhood, our friendship within the team and nothing can be shaken.
“And I can guarantee you that as the captain of the team that we have built a culture where these things will not even infiltrate into this environment — .0001 percent.
—PTI

Press Trust of India