Thank you, gentleman!

By Mohammed Rumman Khan

In the T20 World Cup 2021, the Indian team lost a match. Only, it was against Pakistan, and was a crushing 10-wicket defeat. It also happened to be our neighbour’s first victory against India in any World Cup event. Any sane mind can see that India lost because the team was outperformed.

The team lost. But in the world of social media dominated by trolls and hatemongers, the cause was not the team but a player, Mohammad Shami. Mohammed Shami, one of India’s finest seam bowlers, had a bad day against our arch-rivals in cricket. But Shami is not just a player. He is the only Muslim player in the Indian team. He was vindictively labelled the “Bloody Pakistani in Team India”(sic) and declared the cause of the defeat. He was made the scapegoat, unfortunately.

Shami was trolled viciously on social media. But hang on, Shami plays for Team India and ideally, you would expect the captain and his teammates to come forward to defend him. After all, cricket is a gentleman’s sport, an old boys’ club. And just when you were ready to write an obituary to sportsman spirit and independent thinking; just when you felt that Shami, like Shahrukh, was standing alone deserted by colleagues; you were shown why cricket is called a team game.

Virat Kohli broke the silence and how!

Detractors may say that the captain squashed the poisonous flames with his bat only after the fire had settled and the trolls had vented.

The match happened on October 24th and Kohli spoke almost a week later. Why did he give a free run to the trolls for six days?

One cannot become a great batter without ‘fine timing’ on the ball. Virat’s timing here to speak up and call out hate and bigotry when needed the most was exemplary. Kohli waited to make a point in front of the media during the pre-match presser and demonstrate clearly that “attacking someone over religion is pathetic,” and put his weight behind Mohammed Shami emphatically.

It was a perfect ‘cover drive or ‘straight drive’ from the meat of the bat. Unlike his form, which is going downward spiral, he didn’t mistime this.

Former cricketers had sought to defend Shami by excusing a rare ‘off day’, ignoring the communal nature of the abuse. But Kohli, like a great leader, stood by his teammate when it mattered the most.

He said, “We stand by him fully. We are backing him 200 percent. And all those who have attacked can come in more force if they want to... Our brotherhood, our friendship within the team, and nothing can be shaken.”

He slapped all the trolls and said, “It’s the lowest level of operative human potential.” This is just like a scenario where India needed six runs in the last ball to pull off a victory, and Kohli elegantly rocked onto the back foot and pulled it straight over the bowler’s head for a six.

Thank you, gentleman!