- Saturday, March 01, 2025
Swati Maliwal, chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women, reacted strongly to the trolling of Gill’s sister Shahneel and said the panel would take action against the culprits.
By: Shubham Ghosh
The ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 has already been witness to a number of ugly episodes, including direct and indirect clashes between India’s cricketing superstars — both present and past. The latest instance to be added in the list is a new one involving batter Shubman Gill and his sister Shahneel.
The on-field arguments between ace batter Virat Kohli and former India opener Gautam Gambhir has remained one of the major lows of this year’s edition. And now, another controversy has hit the tournament after defending champions Gujarat Titans defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore in their final league match in Bengaluru on Sunday (21) to knock the three-time runners-up out of the tournament.
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Bangalore supporters were hopeful that their endless wait for the crown would end after in-form Virat Kohli belted his second successive century to become the owner of the most number of centuries in the T20 tournament. Bangalore posted a formidable total of 197 for 5 in 20 overs and needed a win to make the playoffs.
But Gill had other ideas as he slammed an unbeaten hundred, also his second consecutive, which saw Gujarat comfortably overhauling the target with six wickets to spare and helping Mumbai Indians to reach the last four. The defeat didn’t go down well with many RCB fans and they started abusing both Gill and his sister on social media. Shahneel was particularly targeted over her Instagram post after the game.
“What a wholesum day,” Gill’s sister Shahneel wrote on Instagram while sharing a few pictures from the match.
A number of fans in turn wrote hateful comments on the post for both her and her swashbuckling batter brother.
But there was also another section of netizens who protested the way the cricketer and his sister were targeted and slammed those who hurled the abuses.
Look at the tweets today for Shubhman Gill and his sister. Man this is why I hated when Kohli – Anushka pardoned that "IIT graduate" who gave rape threat to vamika. Some of these guys need to be behind bars and careers ruined. He should have been made an example to stop all this.
— ∆nkit? (@CaughtAtGully) May 21, 2023
Some of the sick kohli fans abusing Gill & his family(especially his sister)
This toxicity and the negative energy creates by these sk called fans is also one reason for the king to not see the light?
GILL is the Future superstar of Indian cricket❤
Agree or CRY forever sickos pic.twitter.com/8TYLG2LwTI— Karthick Shivaraman (Imagine NO Blue tick Here) (@iskarthi_) May 21, 2023
On the field, though, the mood was completely opposite. Kohli was seen acknowledging Gill over his match-winning knock with a hug and the latter acknowledging it gracefully.
“I am in good form, it’s about getting a start and then converting it into a big one. In the first half of the IPL, I was missing out on those big ones. I was getting a lot of 40s and 50s. Thankfully, it’s all working out for me in the business end of the IPL. You need to keep playing shots in T20 cricket. You have to keep the intent and keep applying yourself, keep the belief,” Gill said after the match.
Gujarat skipper Hardik Pandya also praised both Gill and Kohli in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“He knows when he plays those cricketing shots and bats like a batter, it’s a different Shubman Gill. Today, the kind of options he picked and the kind of places where he was hitting, as a bowler he doesn’t give any chance. That makes him very special and the other batter gets confidence from him as well. We would have taken 197 at the start, but we didn’t bowl well. Special innings from Virat, he batted well but we went too early for death bowling,” he said.
Swati Maliwal, chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women, reacted strongly to the way Shubman and Shahneel were targeted online after the Gujarat batter hit a magnificent hundred.
Extremely shameful to see trollers abusing #ShubhmanGill’s sister just because the team they follow lost a match. Previously we had initiated action against people abusing #ViratKohli daughter. DCW will take action against all those who have abused Gill’s sister as well. This… pic.twitter.com/eteGtGgPVm
— Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) May 22, 2023
Sharing screenshots of some of the Twitter users who allegedly targeted Shubhman’s sister with lewd remarks, Maliwal said the commission will take action against all those who have abused her.
“This shall not be tolerated!” she tweeted.
“Extremely shameful to see trollers abusing #ShubhmanGill’s sister just because the team they follow lost a match. Previously we had initiated action against people abusing #ViratKohli daughter…” she added.
A man from Hyderabad was arrested for allegedly issuing rape threats to the minor daughter of Kohli and his actor wife Anushka Sharma after India lost to Pakistan in a match in the T20 World Cup in 2021.
