While the entire cricket fraternity took strong exception to the deplorable behaviour meted out to Arshdeep Singh on social media after he dropped Asif Ali’s catch against Pakistan in last Sunday’s game, there are still some out there, calling themselves Indian cricket fans, who continue to target the young pacer for his miss. In that game against Pakistan, Arshdeep did a commendable job trying to defend 7 runs off the final over and even against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, Arsheep found himself with only 7 runs to defend in the final over and almost took the game to the final ball before Sri Lanka held their nerve to notch up their second win of the Super4.
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After the SL game, the Indian team were boarding the team bus to go back to the team hotel when a spectator made a snide remark at Arshdeep referencing the drop catch from Sunday. Arshdeep, who heard what the spectator had to say, stopped as he was boarding the bus and stared down the person, before making his way toward the back of the bus.
Visibly happy with his trolling of an Indian cricketer, the Indian fan was caught on camera with a sheepish smile, that was only to be wiped off seconds later as journalist Vimal Kumar, present there at the time and a witness to what the person had said, hauled him up for his remarks and gave him a proper dressing down. He eventually had to apologise before security personnel moved people out of the way for the bus to may it outside the stadium.
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Arshdeep had to endure heavily trolling for his dropped catch on social media, but he also found support from every quarter following the Pakistan game. Even skipper Rohit Sharma backed the left-arm pacer and talked about him at length during the post-match presser after the Sri Lanka game praising him for his mental fortitude and confidence.
“Honestly, the guys do not look at social media that much. Too much crap is happening there when we lose games here and there, a drop here and there,” said Rohit talking after the trolling, and went on to add, “Yes, he himself was disappointed, but then again if you saw his confidence in the final over [in the Pakistan game]he nailed the yorker well and he got Ali [Asif] out [eventually]. If he was not mentally there, the execution would not have happened, but in his case, he ran to his place and took the ball.
“Today also I thought he bowled pretty well in the last two overs. He is a very confident lad, and that is why he is here, ahead of lot of players who are sitting at their homes. He is a very confident lad and I have not seen many like him early in his career. As a captain and a coach we are very happy with how he takes his game and goes about his business with the ball,” added Rohit.
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