Arshdeep Singh CricketerArshdeep Singh Cricketer

Indian fast bowler Arshdeep Singh has been unfairly targeted for dropping the catch albeit in a crucial game, and against Pakistan.

All cricketers, both big and small have dropped catches in important games. Arshdeep is no exception and thus should not be at the receiving end.

But the trolls had to criticize him and link his name to the vexed problem India has had in the past which has long been rectified, that of Khalistan.

A young lad at 23, playing for his country and in such a crucial game would never think of ditching his own career and commit treason on the country he is born in. For him, at the at stage of his career, the only focus will be – to do his best – for himself and the country.

Just because he looked nonchalant about it, does not and must not mean he did plan to drop the catch.

But the Twitter and social media army went in overdrive to attack his loyalty to the game and his country.

How boorish and uncivil, uncouth people have to be to troll him like that.

It hurts.

Sitting thousands of miles away from India, as an Australian of Indian descent, I can feel the pain he and his family, especially his mum and dad would have gone through.

Also read: Pakistan thrash India, teach Kohli and team a lesson or two

To all the social media animals, I will say that the only thing to be upset about should be that India lost the match and are now out of the competition. You can criticize his game, the way he went about the catch and perhaps his coach who should teach him better for next time.

To the overzealous Indian and Pakistani ‘have-nots’ who feel empowered on Twitter, trolling a player and labelling him a traitor and a khalisatni is perhaps the lowest of lows you can do.

Indian fans are blaming a ‘paid Pakistani’ troll army to do that to Arshdeep.

Some nationalist Indians blame it on the polity of Pakistan and see it as part of their game plan against India. They claim it is yet another example of how Pakistan is promoting divisions in India and never misses an opportunity to fuel the fires of separatism and insurrection among minorities.

Some miscreants even went to the extent of editing Arshdeep’s Wikipedia page to reflect his support for Khalistan.

It is simply low and laughable.

Arshdeep’s father Darshan Singh, who watched the game live from the stands of the Dubai International Stadium saw his son was made the scapegoat for the defeat.

“As a parent, it feels really bad. He is only 23. I don’t want to say much about trolls. You can’t shut everyone’s mouth. Without fans, there is no game. There are some who stand by you no matter what and others who can’t digest a single loss. But at the end of the day, only one team can win,” Darshan, who landed in Chandigarh from Dubai on Monday evening, told The Indian Express.

Arshdeep’s coach Jaswant Rai, speaking on Zee TV India said it was unfair to attack Arshdeep for one dropped catch and added he (Arshdeep) would make amends next game.

Now all eyes are on the selectors to finalize the Indian squads to play against the visiting Australians and later the ICC T20 World Cup tournament down under.

By Raj