Former Indian captain and Congress politician Mohammed Azharuddin was at the center of a social media storm earlier today after his remarks on the Indian women’s team’s batting performance. India lost by 9 runs to Australia in the final of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and ended with a silver medal in the cricket event of the games.
Chasing 162 for the gold medal, India fell just short despite an outstanding half-century by captain Harmanpreet Kaur. After the match, Azharuddin took to Twitter and said, “Rubbish batting by the Indian team. No common sense. Gave away a winning game on a platter.”
Rubbish batting by the Indian team. No common sense. Gave away a winning game on a platter. #INDvsAUS #WomensCricket #CWG22
— Mohammed Azharuddin (@azharflicks) August 7, 2022
Despite losing their openers cheaply, India battled back into the game with a 96 runs partnership for the 3rd wicket between skipper Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodriguez. However, once Jemimah was bowled by Schutt, Australia fought back well to close out the game with regular wickets. Azhar was clearly irked by this as he took his time out to criticise the batting performance.
However, these remarks by Azharuddin didn’t go down well with the social media users as they reminded Azhar of his own record in knockout games against Australia.
One Twitter user asked Azhar in response, “Excuse me sir, but how many world cup finals, okay semifinals, okay ANY knockout games did your team win against the Aussies in your day?”
Excuse me sir, but how many world cup finals, okay semifinals, okay ANY knockout games did your team win against the Aussies in your day? And for your information, this team has WON a silver medal at the CWG! Show them some freaking respect, if you’re capable of that, of course!
— Siddharth Dixit (@sid_dixit_25) August 7, 2022
Another Twitter user reminded Azhar of the match-fixing allegations against him and said, “Don’t make people remind you of your not so cricketing acts on cricket field, Azhar.”
Don’t make people remind you of your not so cricketing acts on cricket field, Azhar.
— EquateAll (@Equateall) August 8, 2022
The women cricketers played like bijli on the ground. We can respect defeat in clean matches. pic.twitter.com/2u7xVQwr0Z
Some users also highlighted the lack of support provided to women cricketers and then how everyone comes forward to criticise them if they fall short.
Support ke naam pe zero aur criticism ke naam pe hero, ye hai duniya ka dastur
— Adi (@aaditea__) August 7, 2022
Btw gave away a winning game, wasn’t this a theme in the 90s .. just wondering 🤔
Several users also reminded Azharuddin of his own record against the Australians in big matches while he was the captain.
Irony that is😭
— Ashutosh Mittal (@IAshutoshMittal) August 8, 2022
India under @azharflicks in ICC WorldCups against Australia:
Matches 3
Won 0
Lost 3
Win% 0.00
What a fabulous record 😻 https://t.co/luEi25nr9W
Match-fixing allegations against Mohammed Azharuddin
Azharuddin was accused of match-fixing in the 2000 match-fixing scandal that saw the fall of Hansie Cronje. CBI report said that Cronje met bookies through Azharuddin and Azhar was subsequently banned from cricket by the BCCI and the ICC.
In 2012, when Azhar was 49 years old, the ban was revoked by the Andhra Pradesh High Court citing lack of evidence. Azhar is heading the Hyderabad Cricket Association since 2019.
