Picture Credit: Twitter
India's defeat against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup in Dubai on Sunday has triggered an emotional response from the Indian fans. While criticism of the players for their poor performance is still acceptable, some have even gone on to abuse and leave derogatory remarks on social media for the Indian fast bowler Mohammed Shami.
The right-arm pacer has been a proven match-winner for the team over the last so many years and certainly deserves more respect as a senior member of the team. But leave aside the respect, section of the trolls online have gone to label him as a traitor with some asking him to go to Pakistan.
During such a rough time, members of the Indian cricket fraternity have all shown their support for Shami. Cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra even changed his profile picture in support of the senior India pacer and he simply captioned the post, "#NewProflePic" while using Shami's picture as the identity of his profile.
Shami did have a bad day on the field as he conceded 43 runs in 3.5 overs and went wicketless. However, amid all this, an old video of Shami is going viral on the internet where he can be seen confronting the bullying of the Pakistani crowd.
While all others walked straight back to the pavilion after what seemed to be the 2017 Champions Trophy final defeat amid all kinds of teases by the Pakistani fans, only Shami walks up to them and tell them to mind their language. MS Dhoni then calms him down and takes Shami along with him in the video.
Check out the video:
The video is enough indication of how much the team and the country mean to the 31-year-old who has scalped 195 wickets in 54 Tests, 148 wickets in 79 ODI and 12 wickets in the T20Is. It won't be any surprise if Shami bounces back and plays a crucial part in India's campaign in the T20 World Cup which needs a revival of sorts after a heavy defeat against Men in Green in their opening match.
India will take on New Zealand in their second match on October 31.