Mohd Shami Abused Online: BCCI breaks silence – BCCI After the humiliating 10-wicket defeat against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup opener on Sunday, Mohammed Shami was singled out for his disappointing performance. He gave away 43 runs in 3.5 overs and a barrage of abuse opened up just for him while others who failed were not targeted. Shami was abused for his religious identity and was vilified on social media platforms. Follow T20 World Cup Live Updates on InsideSport.in.
While Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman besides IPL franchises and even opponent Mohammad Rizwan came in his support of Shami, his teammates including skipper Virat Kohli stayed silent. The reason for Kohli & Co not coming in Mohammed Shami’s support is BCCI’s guidelines, “Do not engage with trolls and add fuel to the fire.”
“We don’t engage with trolls and engaging them would only encourage them. Platforms have already taken down many such comments,” one official said.
Mohd Shami Abused Online: BCCI breaks silence after instructing Virat Kohli & team not to get involved in the issue, ‘stay focused on the task’
The kind of pressure, struggles & sacrifices a player has to go through for his country & his people is immeasurable. @MdShami11 is a star & indeed of the best bowlers in the world
Please respect your stars. This game should bring people together & not divide ’em #Shami #PAKvIND pic.twitter.com/3p70Ia8zxf
— Mohammad Rizwan (@iMRizwanPak) October 26, 2021
T20 World Cup: However, after InsideSport reported that BCCI instructed players to stay away from the matter, it tweeted in support of Shami.
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Mohd Shami Abused Online: BCCI breaks silence after instructing Virat Kohli & team not to get involved in the issue, ‘stay focused on the task’
But players have so far stayed away as instructed. It was difficult to picture Virat Kohli & Co not coming in support of their teammate when they took a stand for the Black Lives Matter movement, taking the knee before the Pakistan match. It was a decision from the team management and everyone happily participated.
While Shami was going through the abuse, Ravichandran Ashwin had enough time on an off day (October 25) to share videos on Denmark Open on Twitter, honouring sponsorship deal with Dream 11 and post a video on YouTube. He however had been vocal on Twitter during the second wave of Covid-19.
Mohd Shami Abused Online: BCCI breaks silence after instructing Virat Kohli & team not to get involved in the issue, ‘stay focused on the task’
Mohd Shami Abused Online: Why did BCCI refuse to intervene?
- Shami was targeted by trolls after his below-average performance against Pakistan.
- He was accused of taking bribes, vilified for his religious identity and was asked to go to Pakistan.
- While many former Indian and Pakistani cricketers all came in his support, his teammates and BCCI stayed silent.
- One BCCI official told InsideSport that they didn’t want to engage with trolls and encourage them.
- Instead, they asked the team to block out the outside noise and focus on New Zealand match.
- Mohammed Shami is India’s one of the best pacers currently with 355 international wickets
T20 World Cup: Rahul Chahar, a junior member of the World Cup squad, too found time to post an Instagram story on the day off. Suryakumar Yadav had posted a picture with his wife on Karva Chauth and added an Insta story on Mumbai Indians’ support following a disappointing day. Deepak Chahar too posted a video of his exercise deals.
All this while BCCI too stayed silent. The official said the team addressed it internally and it was decided not to engage and stay focused on the task at hand. India will face New Zealand on Sunday and winning the game will be crucial.
“It’s very sad what he (Shami) has had to go through. It was just a bad day for the whole team and it’s in poor taste to single out anyone. The team has addressed it internally and saying anything against it could provoke more such comments. So, they stayed out of it. It doesn’t impact anything as the team isn’t concerned about outside noise,” the BCCI official told InsideSport.
T20 World Cup: Finally, Facebook decided to intervene and removed most of the abusive comments from Mohammed Shami’s Facebook and Instagram posts but it was too late. He had already been vilified for his religious identity while death threats and ‘Go to Pakistan’ comments were common.
