The overreaction of sports fans isn’t new. It follows a tediously predictable pattern: Outrageous, xenophobic comments are made against a player in the garb of criticism.
Campaign against Arshdeep Singh for a slip-up on the field is reprehensible, goes against letter and spirit of the game
By: Editorial
Updated: September 7, 2022 7:49:52 am
As the ball slipped between his fingers and even before it hit the ground, the fate that awaited Arshdeep Singh, post-match, could have been foretold. A stand-up comic suggested that the young Indian pacer’s social media manager delete the apps from his phone, predicting a barrage of hateful messages. It was said half-jokingly. But what followed wasn’t funny at all. For hours after the match, the 23-year-old was vilified across social media platforms, his Wikipedia page edited to add references to Khalistan, prompting the government to seek an explanation from the website’s executives. All this over a dropped catch in the match in which India was defeated by Pakistan in the Asia Cup on Sunday.
The overreaction of sports fans isn’t new. It follows a tediously predictable pattern: Outrageous, xenophobic comments are made against a player in the garb of criticism; a show of support follows and, in rare cases, there’s condemnation of the vicious attacks from teammates; the outrage subsides and it is business as usual. Until the next such incident takes place. This has been happening since the time Chetan Sharma was hit for a last-ball six by Javed Miandad. But the recent wave of social media abuse is different – it has been directed prominently at players from minority communities. Before Arshdeep, Mohammed Shami was targeted after India’s defeat to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup last October.
Indian and Pakistani players have always enjoyed cordial relationships off the field. The bonhomie, however, has been missing on social media. TV studios fan the flames with a build-up that borders on warmongering. Social media executives, too, need to be much more responsible in ensuring their platforms are not used to spread hate. Every cricketer has made a slip-up like Arshdeep’s at one time or another. The reasonable reaction to such a mishap would be slapping the head or throwing it back in disappointment. Anything beyond that isn’t cricket.
Source: NDTV-Cricket