 "'We also don't know Sachin anymore': Indian Twitterati apologises for trolling Maria Sharapova in 2014")
Angered over Sachin Tendulkar’s tweet on the farmers' protest , scores of Indians on Thursday flooded tennis star Maria Sharapova’s social media pages apologising for trolling her in 2014. In an interview in 2014, Sharapova had said that she wasn’t aware who Tendulkar was, drawing the ire of Tendulkar’s Kerala fans. Many claiming to be Tendulkar fans were back on her social media platforms on Thursday, apologising for their “crude behaviour” six years ago. “Sharapova, you were right about Sachin, that he is not a person of quality that you should know,” a social media user commented in Malayalam, as were hundreds of other messages in the south Indian language. While most messages were apologetic for the trolling, a few even invited Sharapova to visit India once the coronavirus pandemic receded. Most of the comments were from Tendulkar’s supporters in Kerala, several media reports said. PTI reported that one social media user offered her shawarma and a special type of biryani as a peace offering, while another said, “One truckload of apologies, sister. We didn’t have your foresightedness. Time proved that you were right.” Tendulkar was among former cricketers and Bollywood stars who pushed back against international celebrities tweeting in favour of the farmers’ protests. Known as ‘God of Cricket’ among his fans, on Wednesday, Tendulkar had tweeted: “India’s sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants,” Tendulkar tweeted, with the two hashtags used by the Ministry of External Affairs, ‘#IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda’.
India’s sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants.
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) February 3, 2021
Indians know India and should decide for India. Let's remain united as a nation.#IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda
His tweet was part of identical tweets sent out by several Indian celebrities in response to international pop star Rihanna expressing solidarity with the farmers’ stir. The tweet did not go down well with his fans too, with many hitting out at their “God”. Over the thousands of comments in Malayalam, all had a similar pattern of apologising to Sharapova for attacking her earlier. “I am sorry, Maria, the legend. We knew Sachin as a player. But we didn’t knew him as a person. You were right and sorry for commenting bad on your FB post (sic),” another user said. On Thursday, Sharapova’s latest posts on Facebook and Twitter had over 3,000 and 350 comments respectively.
Anyone else got their years confused?! #😅 pic.twitter.com/ocfC8sanjy
— Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) February 3, 2021
The News Minute reported that people commenting on Sharapova’s posts “included people with and without party affiliations”. The report also quoted a few Facebook comments: “Dear Maria, we are sorry for the cyber attack against you in the name of Sachin (sic),” said one user, while another added, “That day without maturity I had posted some comments in favor of Sachin and bullied you. I am sorry Maria (sic).” Another person commented, “Sorry for the attack you faced from my country back in 2014 when you said you didn’t know Sachin. Better you didn’t know him (sic).” “Dear Ms. Sharapova, You’re absolutely right, we’re sorry to blame you when you expressed your opinion about Sachin Tendulkar on 2014, That man is standing against the farmers, who are backbone of all humans of India (sic),” said another comment.
We Malayali’s ( State of Kerala in India) regret the day you mentioned about Sachin Tendulkar and we thought you’re wrong.. Unfortunately now we realised that you’re absolutely right. He’s anymore God of Cricket in fact he’s puppet of BCCI. Sorry
— Paul (@VA_PAUL) February 4, 2021
Yes ....we also dont know the new @sachin_rt
— Jiffy Shams (@JiffyShams) February 4, 2021
Sorry for the comments two years before.#maapakkanam
ur the right now we apologize to u on ur tweet on 2014
— shams rahman (@shamsra97949502) February 4, 2021
ur the right now we apologize to u on ur tweet on 2014
— shams rahman (@shamsra97949502) February 4, 2021
Sorry to say after long seven years we could recognise him ,
— Seeker (@iamhopefuller) February 4, 2021
We wish we didn't know Sachin tenduker, sorry for the FB abuse
Its better not to know who Sachin actually is,sorry for whatever was said before
— Tanmay (@Tanmay19352212) February 4, 2021
As you are aware that our whole community is Apologizing for a mistake we did 7 yrs back.
— momin.exe (@AsterismBrigade) February 4, 2021
No one had expected @sachin_rt would be a fascism enabler.
Kindly accept the Apologies sister.
Please visit Kerala once after the Pandemic. https://t.co/COU6NtIx10
With inputs from PTI
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