Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli has blasted the “spineless” trolls who racially abused his teammate Mohammed Shami over the past week.
Shami was the subject of criticism after India’s loss to Pakistan in their T20 World Cup opener, ending the match with figures of 0-43 from 3.5 overs.
“There’s a good reason why we are playing on the field and not some bunch of spineless people on social media that have no courage to actually speak to any individual in person,” Kohli said in a press conference ahead of India’s match with New Zealand.
Shami, who is a Muslim, was accused of being a Pakistan operative playing for India and told to go and play for their rivals instead – among many other unrepeatable slurs.
READ MORE: Cricket great Alan Davidson dies at 92
READ MORE: Brutal takedown halts Khawaja’s hot Ashes bid
India is 80 per cent Hindu, with Muslims making up 14 per cent or so of all religious people in the country.
Kohli said the squad was backing Shami “200 per cent”.
“If people can overlook that and his passion for his country, honestly I don’t even want to waste one minute of my life to give any attention to those people, and neither does Shami and neither does anyone else in the team,” he said.
“We stand by him fully. We are backing him 200 per cent, and all those who have attacked him can come with more force if they want to. Our brotherhood, our friendship within the team, nothing can be shaken.”
The captain said it was unfortunate that making fun of people on social media as a source of entertainment was a sad indictment on the modern sporting landscape.
“This is the lowest level of human potential that one can operate at – and that’s how I look at these people,” he said.
READ MORE: Stunning finish to UFC title fight
READ MORE: Australia destroyed by England’s ‘brutal genius’
“To me attacking someone over their religion is the most, I would say, pathetic thing that a human being can do. Everyone has the right to voice their opinion and what they feel about certain situations, but I personally have never ever even thought of discriminating anyone over their religion.
“That is a very sacred and personal thing to every human being and that should be left there – so as I said, people take out their frustrations because they obviously have no understanding of what we do as individuals.”
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!