Mohammed Amir requests fans not to cross line on social media

New Delhi:  In a game that was completely dominated by India, Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir was the only bright spot as he returned figures of 3/47 from his 10 overs. And the loss has not gone down well with the Pakistan fans as they took to social media to express their displeasure. But Amir has requested them to not use bad words even though they are free to criticise the players.

Taking to Twitter, Amir wrote: “Pls dont use bad words for the players yes u guys can criticise our performance we will bounce back InshAllah we need ur support (sic).”

As various social media platforms went berserk after India’s historic win over arch rival Pakistan in the World Cup, the unanimous winner was twitterati from the other side of the border that created jokes, memes, GIFs and one-liners on the Sarfaraz Ahmed-led team.

The moment the rain-hit match at the Old Trafford in Manchester on Sunday went into final overs, users from Pakistan began bashing their team, although keeping the humour intact — be it Ahmed’s yawning face on the field or Shoaib Malik being dismissed for a duck.

“Don’t call me a traitor, but look at the Indian players, they look like proper athletes, our players look like they’ve eaten two plates of waris nihari with feeqay ki lassi and benazir kulfa, all at once,” tweeted one user. The tweet immediately went viral and Indian users started retweeting it.

Another tweet from across the border read: “Dear India thora hath hola rakhen… Hamary Sarfraz ne ro dena ha abi.”

As the skipper returned to the pavilion after scoring just 12 runs in 30 balls, a user posted: “When I die I want Sarfaraz to lower me into my grave so he can let me down one last time”.

Shoaib Malik also added his bit on Twitter and wrote: “On behalf of all athletes I would like to request media and people to maintain respect levels in regards to our families, who should not be dragged into petty discussions at will. It’s not a nice thing to do.”

Interestingly, the Pakistan Cricket Board has come out with a clarification that the photos of the players dining and partying till late on the eve of the high-voltage clash is actually not from the eve of the game.

“The cricketers did not violate their curfew,” a PCB spokesperson told DawnNewsTV.

“The videos and photographs that went viral (on social media) are from two days before the match. The day before the match against India, all the players were in their hotel rooms by curfew time.”

But the fans are clearly not impressed and there has been heavy trolling of the Pakistan players on twitter with some fans even making their displeasure known after Sarfaraz Ahmed and team surrendered meekly against Virat Kohli and boys in Manchester.

Published on: June 18, 2019 at 14:08 IST

IANS