Attacking someone over religion is most pathetic thing human being can do: Kohli on Shami's trolling
Dubai, Oct 30: A livid India captain Virat Kohli on Saturday hit back at "spineless trolls" who attacked Mohammed Shami's religion after the team lost to Pakistan in its inaugural T20 World Cup game and said targetting people for their faith is "the most pathetic thing" to do.
Shami, who endured an off day in India's 10-wicket defeat, was trolled on instagram for his Muslim identity.
"Attacking someone over their religion is the most, I would say, pathetic thing that a human being can do," skipper Kohli didn't mince words on the eve of his team's crucial match against New Zealand when asked about the trolling that his senior pacer faced.
For Kohli, social media trolls are nothing but a bunch of "spineless" people, who don't have the courage to face real people in real life.
"There is 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," he said.
A lot of star players, including Sachin Tendulkar, had posted messages in support of Shami during the furore.
"Everyone has the right to voice their opinion and what they feel about a certain situation, but I personally have never ever even thought of discriminating (against) anyone over their religion.
"That is a very sacred and a personal thing and that should be left there," Kohli said.
The skipper said that he doesn't want to waste time on losers, who overlook the fact that Shami had made some great contribution for the country.
"....Mohammad Shami has won India number of matches in the last few years and has been our primary bowler with Jasprit Bumrah when it comes to making an impact in games in Test cricket.
"If people can overlook that...I honestly 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," the Indian skipper said.
Kohli reminded the naysayers that the bond among the team members is so strong that this kind of chatter doesn't infiltrate the protective shield they have created for themselves.
"We stand by him fully. We are backing him 200 per cent. And all those who have attacked can come in more force if they want to... Our brotherhood, our friendship within the team and nothing can be shaken.
"And I can guarantee you that as the captain of the team that we have built a culture where these things will not even infiltrate into this environment -- .0001 per cent. That is a absolute guarantee for myself."
Talk about his take on social media abuse, Kohli termed it as the "lowest level of operative human potential".
"They hide behind identities to go after people on social media, making fun of people and that has become a social entertainment in today's world which is so unfortunate and sad to see.
"Because this is the lowest level of human potential that one can operate at and that's how I look at these people. Those who represent the country at the highest level are special people and common public won't have an idea about the kind of sacrifices they make to reach that level," he said.
Lack of compassion has become a norm, agreed the star batter.
"They don't have courage or spine to do something like that. So that's how I see things. All this drama created on the outside is purely due to people's frustration and lack of compassion so they find it so amusing to go after people," he said.
As Kohli has time and again reiterated that the chatter on the outside doesn't reach the team, he also made it clear that neither he nor his teammates would make a public show of how and in what way they carry out their jobs.
"How people react on the outside has no value in our group and never focused on it and we will never focus on it.
"People don't understand what it takes to do the job on the field at the international level and we are not going to go around just announcing to everyone what we do and how we do it," he said.
"We just carry on with our business that we are supposed to do. We take the learnings and move forward and not one game is more important than others," he added.
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Prime organiser of Messi event in Kolkata arrested over ‘mismanagement’ after stadium chaos
Kolkata (PTI): The police on Saturday arrested Satadru Datta, the prime organiser of the Lionel Messi football event at Salt Lake Stadium here, following widespread chaos at the venue, which prompted the Argentine World Cup-winning captain to leave the field early.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the stadium unrest, Datta was held by the Bidhannagar Police for “mismanagement” of the event from the Kolkata airport, where he had gone to see off Messi and his entourage on their way to Hyderabad.
"We are looking into whether there was any mismanagement from the organiser's side, which led to the chaos at the stadium. He has been detained, and the police have now brought the situation under control," West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar said at a press conference.
A senior police officer later confirmed that Dutta has been arrested. Till reports last received, the police were interrogating him and his manager inside one of the departure lounges of the airport.
The organiser has given in writing that he will refund the prices of tickets he sold to the disappointed spectators, Kumar said.
What was supposed to be a marquee football spectacle turned into widespread violence and disorder at the stadium after Messi’s brief and tightly ring-fenced appearance, his first at the venue since 2011, left large sections of the crowd frustrated, as they failed to catch a glimpse of their superstar despite having travelled from far and wide, paying hefty sums for tickets.
Police said they were also investigating how organisers allowed sale of bottled waters and beverages inside the stadium premises, which are banned items during such events.
Thousands of water bottles were used as missiles and lobbed inside the pitch by angry spectators, who also uprooted bucket seats from the gallery and used them as ammunition inside the field against the defending police and security personnel.
Spectators alleged that water bottles were being sold at a massive premium inside the stadium despite police disallowing such items from outside at the entry gates.
Police agreed there was an underlying tension in the galleries on account of Messi not showing his footballing skills on the field, which only got aggravated after a bunch of VIPs, including State Sports Minister Aroop Biswas and unidentified people, blocked the football icon’s view during the limited time he spent on the ground.
“We are on the job, and will ensure that whoever is responsible for what happened today at Salt Lake Stadium will be punished, and action will be taken against the authorities concerned,” said Jawed Shamim, ADG, Law and Order.
