T20 World Cup: 'There's a reason why we are playing on the field and not them': Kohli slams online trolls, backs Shami
Virat Kohli, while addressing a press conference before the India vs New Zealand T20 World Cup match, slammed the online trolls after pacer Mohammed Shami was subjected to online abuse following India's loss.
Ahead of India's second T20 World Cup match against New Zealand, skipper Virat Kohli slammed the social media trolls with stern words. His comments come in the light of online abuse that his pacer Mohammed Shami was subjected to following India's 10-wicket loss to Pakistan in their opening Super 12 encounter.
While addressing the pre-match press conference in Dubai on Saturday, Kohli commented that there are “spineless people” who have no idea what it takes to play at the highest level and that the Indian team pays no heed to such comments.
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"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," Kohli said during a press conference here.
"This is the lowest level of human form, attacking someone over religion is the most pathetic thing human beings can do.
"Never thought of discriminating on basis of religion. That is a very sacred thing. Our brotherhood and friendship can't be shaken... and these things can't infiltrate. I give credit to people who understand us," he added.
"We are doing what we are doing on the field and none of these people (social media trolls) are even in the vicinity to even imagine doing something like that. They do not have the courage or the spine to do that. That is how I see things. As a group, we understand how we need to stick together and how we need to back individuals and how need to focus on our strengths and whether people on the outside portray the fact that India cannot afford to lose a game of cricket is none of our business because we play sport and we understand how sport goes. So, how people think on the outside adds no value whatsoever. We never focussed on it and we will never focus on it going forward either.
"Like I said last time, people do not understand what it takes to do the job on the field at the international level and we are not going to go around and announce to everyone what we do and how we do it. We are just supposed to carry on and if a game goes off, you take the learning from it and you move forward. Not one game is more than the other. Every game of cricket is important and so is the case in the next game as well," concluded Kohli.
