DUBAI: India captain Virat Kohli on Saturday hit back at “spineless trolls” who attacked Mohammed Shami’s religion after the team lost to Pakistan in its T20 World Cup opener last weekend and said targeting people for their faith is “the most pathetic thing” to do.
“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,” the star cricketer told journalists.
Kohli continued, “Attacking someone over their religion is the most, I would say, pathetic thing that a human being can do,” adding that he 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,” the right-handed batsman added.
“People take out their frustrations because they have no understanding of the fact that Mohammed Shami has won India a number of matches. Honestly, I don’t want to waste even one minute of my life on them. We stand by him fully, back him 200%,” he said on the eve of India’s match against New Zealand.
Following India’s defeat against Pakistan, a torrent of social media abuse was aimed at the only Muslim cricketer in India’s squad, Mohammed Shami.
Thousands of messages were left on Shami’s Instagram account saying he was a “traitor” and should be thrown out of the Indian team. However, support poured in from his many fans and celebrities from all walks of life.
Kohli’s team will hope to avoid all such distractions and revive their campaign with a win in Sunday’s crucial Super 12 match against New Zealand, who are also smarting from defeat at the hands of Pakistan.
New Zealand spearhead Trent Boult said he is planning to follow the example of fellow left-arm quick Shaheen Afridi and swing the ball into India’s right-handers. Kohli said India had their own plan to foil Boult.
“If Trent says he wants to replicate what Shaheen did against us, obviously he’s motivated to do so and we have to be motivated to counter that and try and put pressure on him and other bowlers,” Kohli added.
