India captain Virat Kohli has slammed the ‘spineless trolls’ who targeted fast bowler Mohammed Shami for his religion after the team’s 10-wicket loss to Pakistan in the 2021 T20 World Cup on Sunday (October 24).
Speaking to the media ahead of India’s next game, Kohli condemned the abuse Shami had to face and ensured that entire team is fully behind him after what has happened.
“Attacking someone over their religion is the most pathetic thing one can do as a human. That is a very sacred and personal thing. People take out their frustration because they have no understanding of what we do,” Kohli told reporters in Saturday’s pre-match press conference on the eve of the Super 12 encounter against New Zealand.
“We’re playing on the field, we’re not a bunch of spineless people on social media. This has become a source of entertainment for some people which is very sad. All this drama created on the outside is based on people’s frustrations,” Kohli added.
The Indian skipper was also asked about New Zealand pacer Trent Boult’s statement before the game that he would try to replicate Pakistan seamer Shaheen Afridi, who gave India early jolts in their opening game of the multi-team tournament.
“We obviously will come up against some quality bowlers in this competition and the intensity which this tournament operates at is very different. So we know that we have played against these individuals, it is not something out of the ordinary that is going to come our way. It all depends on how we take the field mentally and how we counter it if Trent says he wants to replicate what Shaheen did against us then he is motivated to do so and we need to be motivated to put pressure on him and counter that,” said Kohli.
