New Delhi: When it comes to cricket, Pakistan seems to be hitting all lows. Supporters of Babar Azam, who stepped aside from captaincy last week, have been attacking his replacement, Shan Masood, viciously on social media. Many even used an Instagram post by Masood remembering his deceased sister to spread hate and question his ability to captain the national cricket team.
The ruthless comments have divided fans, with even national dailies like Dawn weighing in on this.
“Cricket is supposed to be a gentleman’s game, but no one seemed to let these ‘fans’ know that,” read an article in Dawn.
Loyal fans attacked Masood for having accepted the captaincy, saying that he did not have the credentials and that they would support nobody but Babar Azam.
“Jisko batting acche se nahi aati wo captain banne ga. PCB [Pakistan Cricket Board] ka bura waqt start (A person who can’t even bat is now captain. PCB’s bad time has arrived),” read one comment, while another said “Shame on you. We spit on a captain like you.”
The irony is that Azam himself faced a huge backlash after Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-finals during the ICC World Cup 2023. But the fact that these comments were made in a post about Masood’s sister has revealed a nasty side to sports fandom.
As the comments kept getting uglier, a few people tried to intervene.
“It’s a post about his late sister. Have some basic human decency,” said one person.
The debate spilt onto other social platforms, including X (formerly Twitter).
“Shan Masood’s post about his late sister is full of sentiments and emotions. There’s nothing about cricket in his post…Yet these so-called fans of Babar Azam (The worst fan base ever in cricketing history) are showing their background with such comments on this post”, an X user wrote.
Dawn urged fans to show some grace and dignity in its article on the issue.
Who’s to blame?
When Babar Azam announced that he would be stepping down as captain, many suspected that he was forced to take the decision after Pakistan lost the world cup this year. This, even though Azam said in a statement that it was a personal decision.
Following this, the PCB also sacked the coaching staff. The captaincy is now divided between Shan Masood, a top-order batter who will lead Pakistan’s Test team starting with the three-match series in Australia in December. The T20 team will be led by fast bowler Shaheen Afridi in New Zealand in January 2024. ODI captaincy has not been decided yet.
Speaking to BOL News after his selection, Masood called captaincy “a responsibility where the Pakistan team is the only thing that matters” and one where “we have to take the team forward,” adding that “challenges make the team and its players”.
A few commentators, like former cricketer Aamer Sohail, questioned the PCB’s decision-making ability.
“If you have fired Babar Azam on his bad performance, will it make changes in the team? Everything is haphazard. If (Inter-Provincial Coordination) IPC has consented to this, they are insulting their own intelligence ”, he added.