Virat Kohli-led Team India endured a tough outing in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup held in UAE and Oman, where they failed to reach the knockout stage of the tournament. Despite assembling a formidable squad, the Men In Blue started the tournament on a rough note and endured a crushing 10-wicket defeat against arch-rivals Pakistan.
The result didn't go well with the fans, considering the cold relations between the two countries, as many vented their anger on seamer Mohammed Shami, who had then conceded 43 runs in 3.5 overs.
Kohli had deemed the act as “spineless” and “pathetic" and months after the incident, Shami himself has shared his thoughts on the subject. Speaking at The Indian Express' Idea Exchange, the seamer slammed the people involved and feels there is no cure for such mindset.
“There is no cure for this kind of thinking. Those who troll (on religion) are not real fans, nor are they real Indians. If you consider a player as a hero and then behave this way, you are not being an Indian supporter. And I feel one should not get hurt by comments made by such people.”
{{/usCountry}}“There is no cure for this kind of thinking. Those who troll (on religion) are not real fans, nor are they real Indians. If you consider a player as a hero and then behave this way, you are not being an Indian supporter. And I feel one should not get hurt by comments made by such people.”
{{/usCountry}}“There was just one thing going on in my mind. If I consider someone as my role model, I will never speak ill about that person. And in case someone is saying something hurtful to me, he can’t be my fan or a fan of the Indian team. So actually, I don’t mind what he says,” said Shami during the interaction.
Trying to explain his point further, Shami called the people who attacked him online as bunch of “nobodies” and feels as a Team India member reacting to it would have given them "undue importance."
“It is the mindset of people. It shows their low-level of education. When people with unknown social media profiles, or even one with a few followers, point fingers at someone, they don’t have anything to lose. For them, nothing is at stake because they are nobodies. But in case we react to them as a role model, as a celebrity, as an Indian cricketer, we are giving them undue importance. We don’t need to engage with them.”
“We know what we are, we don’t need to say what India means to us because we represent the country and we fight for our country. So we don’t need to prove anything to anyone by saying or reacting to such trolls,” the 31-year-old added.