Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri had an emotional message and a heartfelt request for the Indian cricket fans after India’s loss in the World Cup 2023 final to Australia last Sunday.
Rohit Sharma’s team lost by 6 wickets in the final in Ahmedabad, bringing end to their 10-match winning streak in the tournament.
For the first time in decades, Australia had gone into an ICC white-ball tournament final as underdogs in front of over 90,000 Indian fans at the Narendra Modi Stadium against a rampant Team India. But Pat Cummins’ side showed their tenacity and fortitude to step up on the biggest stage of all, while Team India couldn’t continue their winning momentum, and were left wanting for more from their batters.
Such things happen in sports: Sunil Chhetri
Sunil Chhetri, who follows cricket, and himself had had his fair share of heartbreaks as India’s football team captain, requested the fans to think before trolling and abusing players on social media.
Chhetri pointed out that anything can happen in sports, alluding to India’s 10-match dominant, winning streak. Sunil Chhetri reckoned while the fans are hurt, nobody would be more hurt than the players themselves.
“It is perhaps not fair for me to do so as I am actually on the other side. As a player, I understand what the players go through. But still, let me say this. All of us felt the pain and the disappointment,t but no one could feel it more than the eleven men who played in the final. I can tell you this the pain they must have felt and continue to feel is very different. For weeks and months, they will feel the pain. So when you say things in frustration on social media and post a tweet, just for a second pause and think,” Sunil Chhetri said on RevSportz.
“They played extraordinary cricket for 10 games, and as a sportsman, I can tell you things can go wrong in the 11th game. Such things happen in sports. In fact, that’s why it’s a sport. It doesn’t always go as per script. But effort, preparation, commitment- whatever you ask for, these men had given it their all. Maybe you can think about it once before writing,” he added.
