Virat Kohli was asked a question on the Mohammad Shami controversy during a press conference on Saturday, responding to which he lashed out at cricket fans in India over the abuse that the bowler faced. The Indian captain said that the team stands fully behind Mohammad Shami.
Virat Kohli said, “To me attacking someone over their religion is the most, I would say, pathetic thing that a human being can do. Everyone has the right to voice their opinion and what they feel about certain situations, but I personally have never ever even thought of discriminating [against] anyone over their religion. That is a very sacred and personal thing to every human being and that should be left there.”
Kohli continued, “People take out their frustrations because they have no understanding of what we do as individuals – they have no understanding of how much effort we put on the field.”
Virat Kohli stated further, “They have no understanding of the fact that someone like Mohammed Shami has won India ‘n’ 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 in Test cricket. I mean, if people can overlook that and his passion for the country, I honestly don’t even want to waste one minute of my life to give any attention to those people. Neither does Shami and neither does anyone else in the team. We stand by him fully. We are backing him 200 percent, 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.”
While the batsman did not explicitly state he was speaking about Indian cricket fans, his response leaves little room for doubt. Intriguingly enough, reports and OpIndia’s own investigation revealed that Mohammad Shami was abused along religious lines by Pakistani accounts, ostensibly in a bid to defame India.
Several accounts from which the Indian bowler had received abuse had been created very recently, which were then promoted by usual suspects with noted anti-India animus. However, Virat Kohli, due to his arrogance, gave Pakistan a free pass and unwittingly aided in the efforts to malign India’s reputation.
Virat Kohli targets social media critics
Virat 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.”
“They hide behind their entities and go after people through social media, making fun of people and that has become a source of entertainment in today’s world, which is so unfortunate and sad to see because this is literally the lowest level of human potential that one can operate at, and that’s how I look at these people,” he added.
Kohli also said, “We, as individuals, understand what we want to do on the field and the strength of character and mental toughness that we have and precisely doing what we are doing on the field. None of these people are even in the vicinity to even imagine doing something like that. They don’t have the courage or spine to do that. So that is how I see things and this drama created on the outside is purely based on people’s frustrations, their lack of self confidence, their lack of compassion, hence they find it so amusing to go after people.”
Netizens are not happy with his answer
Netizens are angry over the fact that Kohli chose to attack Indian social media users when Mohammad Shami was abused by Pakistanis.
More woke stuff @imVkohli no one attacked Shami, it was Pakistani propaganda and ISI Bots. Stop guilt trapping us !!! https://t.co/BDMRHBgrJX
— Navroop Singh (@NavroopSingh_) October 30, 2021
Dear @imVkohli , I’ll tell u the problem.
— Aabhas Maldahiyar 🇮🇳 (@Aabhas24) October 30, 2021
In reality no one attacked #Shami . The malicious campaign to give bad name to Indians was done from Pakistan.
Sehwag,Prasad,Gambhir received real vitriol but you stayed numb.
Does it not qualify as religious discrimination! pic.twitter.com/1122NvCHXy
Shut up @imVkohli !
— Sujata Ganguly 🇮🇳 (@Sujataganguly13) October 30, 2021
It has already been proven that the pakis trolled him!
You should apologise to the indian cricket fans!
Blaming this on us just shows how disconnected you are from the fans!
You do not know your own people!
You have fallen in grace!
Sad!😔 https://t.co/GfMbuclV4W
People are extremely angry with Kohli’s response and are letting their opinions known.
Kohli condemning abuse of Shami after it had been shown that no Indian abused Shami and it was a Pakistan project, this Indian team can fuck of to be honest…. Hope Kane Williamson ends this painful tournament tomorrow…
— Gappistan Radio (@GappistanRadio) October 30, 2021
kōzhi ensuring that the remaining .786% ppl outside his utterly illiterate tardfam who hoped India would somehow scrape through to the semis, would now start praying for India to lose to Kiwis & get KOed from thubaay.
— கரிக் கடை boy IAS (@KarikadaiBoy) October 30, 2021
The controversy erupted after India were soundly beaten in their first match of the T20 World Cup 2021 against Pakistan. Apart from the controversy surrounding Mohammad Shami, there were other controversies as well. Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis had said that watching Mohammad Rizwan offering Namaz in front of Hindus was the best thing about Pakistan’s victory, which also attracted huge criticism.
