When, India reached the World Cup semi-final against Australia in Sydney all of us were confident that we will definitely play final against New Zealand. Praises and good wishes were pouring in. Twitter goes gaga and #IndiaWin #CheerForDhoni was trending on social media. Indian cricketers are worshipped as God here when they win but when they lose; they are hated more than terrorists. So far, this was the trend. However, this time Indian cricket fans have crossed all limits and alleged Virat Kohli’s girlfriend Anushka Sharma for the failure, as she was present in the stadium, during the match. It is totally unfair and absurd to blame Anushka for India’s disappointing performance in the world cup. It was Team India’s overconfidence that overpowered them. Anushka has no fault in their defeat. This reflects the typical Indian mindset to blame others. Our bowlers bowled bad deliveries, which led Australia to score mountain of runs. Our batsmen too failed as they didn’t show aggressiveness at any stage. Winning toss also matters a lot, as the proverb in cricket goes: Toss win, Match win.
When Indian vice-captain Virat Kohli went out to bat against Australia in the World Cup semi-final, all eyes were on him. However, he could not live upto the expectations and got out reasonably at 1. His girlfriend Anushka Sharma, who was among the spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground, became the target of twitterati. Calling Anushka ‘Panouti’ (Bad omen) and cracking jokes on her is pitiable. A pall of pessimism descended on the Indian dressing room after the team’s campaign in the World Cup came to an agonizing end here on Thursday, and the pain of losing the semi-finals immersed the entire cricket-crazy nation that was left inconsolable.
Disappointment was writ large on the faces of players and their captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni after they succumbed to pressure against the clinical Australians, who decimated the defending champions by 95 runs to romp into the finals and break a million Indian hearts. While Dhoni and his men managed to put up a brave face at the post-match presentation ceremony, many broke down at the Sydney Cricket Ground and miles away from the hallowed turf. Though, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men have baffled critics by recovering from a winless bilateral tour of Australia before the World Cup to brush aside all-comers in the tournament. Starting with two wins against Pakistan and South Africa, India won all six group matches to top Pool B and then downed spirited Bangladesh by 109 runs in the quarter-finals. Besides bowling out their rivals in all games, India has piled up 300-plus scores every time they have batted first. India have beaten Australia just once in 35 years in a one-day international at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the hosts have won all six semi-finals they have contested since the inaugural event in 1975.
Miss Sharma cheered for her man in blue, Vice-captain Virat Kohli. She was looking fabulous in a striped monochrome outfit, her face echoed the moments of tense anticipation on the field. The actress seemed disappointed after Virat returned to the pavilion early, scoring only a single run. Anushka was cheering the team as we all were doing either in stadium or in front of the television. She too was in pain, when we lost it. She was there to cheer like any other cricket enthusiast in stadium. Her contribution was the same as millions of other people watching in front of their TVs. It’s a sport, be a true sports lover and you know the best team always wins. She was just watching the match like you all.
Accept the defeat, it’s a game. India was not at its best and they played against a very strong team. We Indians are displaying sick mentality by blaming a girl, who has nothing to do with loss or win. Sometimes, people get too personal. I understand, to millions in India, cricket is next to sacredness. This affinity can hurt as it is happening now. Virat is just a mortal whose intention was to see his team win and bring joy to the millions who support India. It’s a game, and one must accept whatever result comes. We must congratulate team Australia on their victory, they played better cricket.
Anushka like every Indian supporter is even more disappointed. Please let this moment pass and be kind to her, this sweet little woman has nothing to do with the result. It is very easy to write about someone on social media. I appreciate Anushka for travelling to Australia for supporting Kohli. Bad luck for Virat that, he couldn’t perform well in the Semi-final. This shows narrow mindedness of Indian society, easy to blame a soft target, any sane person could gauge that the team was not able to cope up with the pressure. Next month when IPL starts everything would be back to square one, so chill.
Even main stream media should never publish such stupid stuff on social media and bring much more disgrace to innocent celebrities for gaining TRP.
