Chennai Super Kings’ cricketers faced a lot of abuse off lately and when they lost their last match of the ongoing IPL 2020 to KKR, the irate fans dragged their families into the mix as well. This uncovered an ugly face of cricket fanaticism on social media which saw individuals targeting a five-year-old child.
MS Dhoni’s daughter Ziva received rape threats from zealous fans on his Instagram account after CSK lost a close match to KKR on Oct 7. Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav were targeted for their inability to win the match for their team while chasing a modest target.
Former India cricketer Pragyan Ojha, in an interview to Sports Tak, condemned such behavior from fans on public forums and explained, that the societal boundaries that are crossed by these people, with no shame, threatening the likes of MS Dhoni -an absolute legend of the game- and his family.
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“It’s a very important subject that we all need to address. It’s not only about a sport or about an individual it’s about the nation. If someone reads these kinds of things it’s very disturbing. I have a young boy, you have a daughter, we have female colleagues working with us,” Pragyan Ojha said on Sports Today.
“If you say something with a touch of humor that is acceptable but you know when you’re crossing that line and you’re saying all this about anyone, anyone at all, it’s very disturbing and you don’t want this to happen. These digital platforms, this social media, is just for entertainment or to enhance your ability to see the world in a different way but you have to be very careful about what message you’re passing to your next generation,” the former Indian cricketer added.
He called for stopping of misuse of technology by people sitting in their houses in a dark room and writing nonsense.
“We are privileged that even during the pandemic we can use technology to communicate. But people are sitting in their houses in a dark room and writing nonsense about someone who has done so much for the country. Matter of fact, about anybody. It’s nonsense, you cannot speak like that. I cannot take it. As a citizen of India, I condemn it very strongly and I will not take this nonsense,” said Ojha.
He mentioned further that it is a sad thing that a former cricketer has to come and defend legends of the game, who have brought so much glory to the country.
“It’s very sad that a Pragyan Ojha is coming and speaking about MS Dhoni or a Sachin Tendulkar. These people are absolute legends. They have given us so much reason to be happy about it. These are pillars of the sport and we are here to defend them in our own country, it makes me really sad,” Ojha concluded.
