‘Can’t behave like animals’: Tabraiz Shamsi slams ‘abusive' Indian fans

Tabraiz Shamsi likes a big, expressive celebration whenever he takes a wicket, but his celebratory act, after the dismissal of Suryakumar Yadav during the recent India-South Africa T20I, really got plenty of attention. Surya’s wicket, which is always a big one in T20Is, saw the left-arm spinner face online abuse post-match due to the exuberant celebration. Shamsi, adhering to his customary wicket-celebration routine, took off his boot and mimicked speaking into it after picking up Suryakumar Yadav’s wicket on 12 December. The left-arm spinner has spoken about it and revealed that he received a barrage of negative online reactions from a section of the Indian fans since they perceived the gesture as disrespectful. “People took it in a negative way; they thought it was disrespectful,” Shamsi told Cricbuzz. Shamsi said that all the abuse he received was the worst he had ever experienced. He also said that there were comments directed towards his wife and called the behaviour uncalled for. “There was also abuse hurled at my wife. I didn’t appreciate that. It’s uncalled for. It’s fine if you want to have a dig at the players, but to involve family and say nasty things, that pushes it to another level,” he further added. Shamsi said that he wants more people to stand up and call out such behaviour. He emphasised the importance of always being civil and not resorting to behaviour resembling that of an animal. “I feel that if players don’t say anything about it, then people think they have free license. More people need to speak up and say it’s not OK. Yes, we’re all trying our best. Yes, your team might not win or you might not agree with certain things. But you need to behave like a human being. You can’t carry on like an animal,” the spinner said. Shamsi, on his part, clarified about his celebration and issued a strongly worded statement. “It’s just a fun celebration which a lot of kids enjoy and means no disrespect towards the batter… I’ve mentioned that countless times before. All you guys hurling abuse are just giving other genuine cricket loving fans from your country a bad name.. cheers.”