All hell broke loose on Sunday during the India vs Pakistan clash at the Asia Cup 2022 after Arshdeep Singh put down an easy catch that changed the course of the game. India were eyeing a third consecutive win in the ongoing tournament but the missed chance in the 18th over of Pakistan’s chase of 182 shifted the momentum away from the Rohit Sharma-led side. Asif Ali was the batter who got the second chance, and he capitalised it in the next over in which senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded 19 runs.
Arshdeep tried compensating for his mistake by trapping Asif Ali in front in the final over. However, it was too late by then. Pakistan won the game by 5 wickets with a ball to spare while the 23-year-old victim of some vicious trolling and abuse on social media.
ASIA CUP 2022: FULL COVERAGE | SCHEDULE | RESULTS
Ace Indian pacer Mohammad Shami extended his support to the youngster, stating that trolls are never seen when the team performs well.
“They only live to troll us, have no other job. When we perform well they don’t say you took a good catch but will troll us? Agar dum hai toh real accounts se aaye na, fake account se toh koi bhi msg kar sakta hai (If you have the audacity, then comes from real accounts; anyone can message from fake accounts,)” Shami told Times Now in an exclusive interview.
“I’ve faced this and it doesn’t affect me because my country stands up for me. I’ll only say to Arshdeep, don’t let this hamper you because your talent is immense,” he added.
Shami, who missed out on a spot in India’s Asia Cup squad, was subjected to online trolling after India’s 10-wicket loss to Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2022. Several prominent cricketers had come out in strong support of the Indian pacer back then.
After the missed catch, information on Arshdeep’s Wikipedia page was changed to link him to the separatist Khalistani movement. Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar took to Twitter to slam such a move.
According to the edit history of the cricketer’s Wikipedia page, an unregistered user replaced the words “India” with “Khalistan” at several places on the profile and his name was changed to “Major Arshdeep Singh Bajwa”. But the changes were reversed within 15 minutes by Wikipedia editors.
(With PTI Inputs)
Get the latest Cricket News, Schedule and Cricket Live Scores here