India’s sensational bowler Mohammad Shami has been making a lot of news lately, however for all the controversial reasons. After the Indian cricket team was thrashed by Pakistan by 10 wickets, the Indian bowler was trolled and abused on social media. However, in a classic case of how social media can be used to create a false narrative around a person or a country, Shami was used as a scapegoat.
Interestingly, the Indian fans were disappointed with the performance of Rohit Sharma and captaincy of Virat Kohli, and the fans of both the cricketers were battling it out on Twitter as usual. However, what took everyone by surprise was the fact that only the hate directed towards Shami was highlighted.
Soon after India’s defeat, the internet was filled with news articles on ‘former cricketers taking stand for Shami’, ‘fans slamming trolls for blaming Mohammad Shami after India’s loss’, however, not a single article shared the definite details about who trolled the Indian bowler.
Without checking the origins of these posts or checking the details of the ‘people’ who trolled Shami, Indian cricket fans started a campaign to support the Indian cricketer.
Infact, one reputed International news website carried a headline saying “Kashmiris beaten, Shami abused after India loses to Pakistan”. The particular international media report omitted the details of the pro-Pakistan sloganeering and celebrations done by the Kashmiri students after Pakistan’s victory that led to an attack on them. The assualters should be booked. However, the news piece was further used to extend this agenda across all social media.
The reports also stated that the Indian bowler was abused on his Instagram, however, just minutes after these reports were published, his Instagram’s comments section was filled with fans supporting the cricketer because of these reports making rounds on the internet.
And most of the handles that spewed hate towards Indian cricketer Mohammed Shami belonged to Pakistani users.
Here, we bring you a few tweets that prove Pakistanis manufactured outrage against Shami:
