Social media has provided unprecedented access to celebrities for fans enabling them to share messages and interact with their favourite athlete or a movie star from the comfort of their home.
The ugly side of this open channel though is the vitriol that a user can direct towards another including and not limited to public figures on the various platforms, some times openly and at others, under the garb of anonymity.
Indian cricketers know how quickly their perception changes in the mind of fans, especially on social media. One eye-catching performance and a player becomes the ‘next big thing’ but one mistake and the fury is unleashed.
India fast bowler Mohammed Siraj has been subject of trolling on social media and he cannot fathom why anyone gets abusive when not aware of the struggles a person may be going through his/her life.
“It is easy to write abuses," Siraj said on RCB Podcast. “But you don’t know anything about his struggle. How can you abuse someone then? Those messages kill your motivation. A guy is getting abused for no reason at all. Why? What’s next?"
Siraj recalled how within a matter of days, he was projected as the future of Indian bowling by fans to being asked to leave cricket and drive an auto instead.
“One day they call you the future of India, the next day they claim you are nothing and should drive an auto. I don’t understand this," Siraj said.
He added, “When you perform well, people start praising you so much, You are such a good bowler, next level. When I was retained, it was called as best retention. Now they question why I was retained? There was no need for you to be retained. You aren’t good enough to play cricket."
Siraj though thanked the fans for the support but advised them against abusing anyone. “Thank you for all the support but don’t abuse anyone. Ups and downs are part of life. That’s all I can say. Rest is up to you. You are aware of our struggle still you behave like that with us. That doesn’t affect us much but as a human all I can ask from you is respect everyone," he said.
