“My wife suffered the worst abuse ever,” says Tabraiz Shamsi, who bears a heavy price for dismissing Suryakumar Yadav

When Tabraiz Shamsi dismissed Suryakumar Yadav on 56, the Indian skipper for the T20 Internationals against South Africa was having a great time in Gqeberha. With a quick stroke, the 32-year-old holed to Marco Jansen at the far-off boundary to hit his fourth maximum of the innings. Shamsi celebrated the occasion with his signature “Shoe-phone” routine since it was a valuable wicket.

Though Shami’s unusual celebration has generally been well received by the public, opposing Suryakumar on social media has resulted in insults and harassment from the supporters.

According to Shamsi, “People interpreted it negatively and felt it was disrespectful,” Cricbuzz said.

“I was the target of a lot of abuse.” I think that was the worst I’ve ever experienced. My wife was also the target of abuse. That was not appreciated by me. It’s inappropriate. It’s OK to make fun of the athletes, but to bring up family members and say hurtful things takes it too far, he said.

After the second Twenty20 International, Shamsi clarified in strong terms that he never intended to be disrespectful to his opponent.

A day after the match, Shamsi sent a forceful message on social media. It’s merely a harmless celebration that many children take part in, with no malice intended for the batter. I’ve made several references to it already. He wrote on X, “All of you people who are insulting other sincere cricket fans in your nation are just defaming them. Cheers.”

On the other hand, the message prompted additional online harassment from users. Following the incident, Shamsi said that more cricket players need to speak out against trolls who resort to abuse.

“I believe that people assume players have unrestricted license if they remain silent about it. There must be a greater voice raising the alarm about this. True enough, we’re all doing our best. It’s possible that your team won’t win or that you won’t agree with certain things. However, you must act in a humane manner. You cannot behave like an animal,” he said.