New Delhi: Twitter told off British broadcaster and former politician Nigel Farage for remarking that the Australian cricket team did not celebrate its World Test Championship win with champagne because of Muslim teammate Usman Khawaja.
In his tweet on 11 June, the former leader of the Brexit Party wrote, “Once again the Australian cricket team does not celebrate in champagne style because 1 of the team members is a Muslim. Are we all to suspend normal life because of the minority?” Australia beat India by 209 runs in the championship match played at London’s Oval ground.
Fans of the game pounced on Farage for this discriminatory comment. Cricket writer Kit Harris chastised Farage in a tweet saying, “It’s called ‘mateship’. I know it doesn’t exist in politics, but it does in sport — especially Australian sport.”
He further said for the Australian cricket team, Khawaja was not a “minority” but their opening batsman.
“I imagine the players felt the tradition of taking a celebratory photo with the whole team was more important than the tradition of throwing an alcoholic drink over each other. ‘All for one, and one for all’. I doubt a politician would understand!” Harris wrote.
Political commentator Matthew Stadlen tweeted, “Here’s Nigel Farage, who has lost all seven of his attempts to become an MP, criticising the literal World Test champions for acting like a team.”
Usman Khawaja responded on Instagram, uploading a photo of himself partying with a Diet Coke.
“Celebrating with a Diet Coke! Some old heads call it Un-Australian. I call it the new Australians. A game for all!” read his caption.
Indians, whose team lost to the Aussies, also came out in support. A Twitter account called “India” wrote “It is called being decent”, while another pointed out Farage’s Islamophobia.
“Once again Nigel Farage is showing his racism and Islamophobia. He doesn’t understand team sport or sport for that matter. By the way, he supported minority rule and apartheid in South Africa,” the user wrote.
This is not the first time the former politician has been accused of making racist and xenophobic comments. From blaming immigrants for his delay to an event to making racist slurs on the Chinese and the Romanians, Farage has often courted controversy.
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