- Monday, March 10, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
India pacer Arshdeep Singh, who faced a massive backlash after dropping a simple catch against Pakistan in a crucial match in Asia Cup in Dubai on Sunday (4) found himself at the receiving end once again on Tuesday (6) after the defending champions lost to Sri Lanka in a Super Four game to get closer to elimination. But this time, he found a lot of allies around him who took it up on his behalf.
It all happened when the Indian cricketers were boarding the team bus after the match ended at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. A man, who claimed to be an Indian, was waiting near the bus to catch a glimpse of the cricketers boarding the bus. As the 23-year-old Singh walked up to the bus and was about to get inside, the fan was heard abusing him in Punjabi language with reference to the cricketer’s dropped catch against the arch-rivals on the weekend.
ALSO READ: Here is what Arshdeep Singh said on backlash he faced after dropping catch against Pakistan
Singh heard the man’s remarks and stopped after getting into the bus but decided not to take it any further. But some journalists who were also waiting near the bus stepped in. An Indian journalist named Vimal Kumar was seen confronting the man over his behaviour. Another joined soon and they complained to the security personnel standing nearby against the man for his words against Singh.
Indian sports journalists hauled a man who abused #arshdeepsingh in front of the team bus. pic.twitter.com/obM1lAklkt
— Afroz Alam?☠️ (@AfrozJournalist) September 7, 2022
Singh, who bowled the final over of the match against Sri Lanka unsuccessfully like against Pakistan, has been facing the wrath ever since he dropped Pakistan’s Asif Ali in the 18th over to allow the men in green gain an upper edge and eventually win the match. The dropped catch even saw Singh’s Wikipedia profile getting vandalised with somebody linking the cricketer to the Sikh separatist Khalistani movement.
On Tuesday, too, Singh tried his best to deny the islanders a win but captain Dasun Shanaka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa ran two byes to win the game for their team in the penultimate ball to take Sri Lanka into the final.
India have their final game of the Super Four stage scheduled against Afghanistan on Thursday (8).
