Mohammed Shami is one of the mainstays of Indian bowling. He hasn’t played a lot of cricket in the last few years due to injuries, but remains a key figure in Indian cricket.
The pacer has played an instrumental role in many of India’s memorable wins across formats, but that hasn’t spared him from online trolling. After India’s defeat to Pakistan during the 2021 T20 World Cup, Shami came on the radar of the troll army, who blatantly dubbed him a traitor.
Shami recently gave a befitting reply to the trolls and said he pays no heed to such acts. said he is not a machine and there will be days when he won’t play well. He added that he doesn’t think about these trolls when playing for the country, saying that true fans won’t do such trolling.
“I pay no heed to such trolling. I have been given a job. I am not a machine. If I am working hard throughout the year, sometimes I will fail, sometimes I will succeed. It’s up to people how they want to take that,” Shami said on News24.
“When you play for your country, you forget all such things. For you, taking wickets and winning the match become more important. I don’t want to go on social media at such times. You see both positive and negative comments. When you’re playing, you need to stay far away from such things.
“We work hard to succeed. Trolls just have to type two lines. True fans will never do such things. If you have objections, then raise them-but respectfully. If you think you can do better than me, please come and try. It’s always open.”
When India Defended Mohammed Shami
The good part of the controversy was the support that Shami got from the Indian cricket fraternity and the country overall. The trolls tried to demean the Indian stalwart, but the country stood tall for the cricketer, slamming the trolls and blocking any negativity coming his way, showing the respect it has for heroes who serve the nation.
The then-India captain Virat Kohli had also blasted the spineless trolls, saying that these people can only speak on social media and have no courage to talk to any individual in person.
“There’s a good reason why we are playing on the field and not a bunch of spineless people on social media that have no courage to actually speak to any individual in person,” said Kohli.
“It has become a social pandemic in today’s world, which is so unfortunate and so 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.”