Pakistan beat India by five wickets in a nerve-wrenching clash in the Super4 clash of the Asia Cup 2022 at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
On the other hand, Arshdeep Singh, India’s young fast bowler, was brutally trolled on the internet and suffered immense criticism after he dropped Asif Ali’s easy catch in a critical situation during the match in the eighteenth over. Internet users were calling him a ‘villain’ and ‘traitor’ after India lost the match.
They did not stop here. A user even labelled him as pro-Khalistan because of being a Sikh. Extremists were projecting community-based criticism onto him.
Arshdeep is a villain in today's match
— 🇵🇸 (@aimanhii) September 4, 2022
Pakistani players to arshdeep singh: pic.twitter.com/e4sG4WzEia
— 𝑼𝒛𝒂𝒚𝒓. (@lazzyy_boyy) September 4, 2022
Amidst ongoing flak on the internet, former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh came to rescue Arshdeep Singh on Twitter and joined hands with other Indians who supported Arshdeep Singh. while responding to community-based violence he wrote:
Stop criticising young @arshdeepsinghh No one drop the catch purposely..we are proud of our 🇮🇳 boys .. Pakistan played better.. shame on such people who r putting our own guys down by saying cheap things on this platform bout arsh and team.. Arsh is GOLD🇮🇳
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) September 4, 2022
Former Pakistani cricketer Muhammad Hafeez also jumped to the defence of Arshdeep Singh and tweeted in his favor asking netizens to stop trolling him.
My request to all Indian team fans. In sports we make mistakes as we r human. Please don’t humiliate anyone on these mistakes. @arshdeepsinghh
— Mohammad Hafeez (@MHafeez22) September 4, 2022