Yesterday, 21st of September, Pakistan faced Afghanistan on the field for a nail-biting encounter. Spirits were elevated on both the sides and clear aggression could be observed by quite a few players.
Forever our knight in shining armor, Shoaib Malik scored an unbeaten 51 runs and took Pakistan across the victory line after a thrilling last over, despite Afghanistan being quite relentless with their efforts to steal the game away.
https://twitter.com/sohailmalik614/status/1043228854142349313
https://twitter.com/daniel86cricket/status/1043226086480531457
On-field aggression is one thing, maybe even commendable at times as it leads to better performance, particularly by fast bowlers. However, when this aggression is carried forward after the game, it becomes problematic.
Several players of both the teams, including Asghar Afghan and Rashid Khan from the opponent team and Hasan Ali from Pakistan were fined 15% of their match fees for Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct set by the ICC.
Observing such behaviour further pumps up an already over-excited crowd, causing the littlest of kids to express themselves in an inappropriate manner. After all, they’re merely following their hero’s examples.
Such an incident occurred during this match as well when a child raised two middle fingers after a much-needed boundary shot, roaring in triumph.
For a child to carry out an explicit action is wrong and ill-mannered…but what does one do when dozens of individuals make active decisions to turn it into a meme, a joke. When instead of correcting these acts, they laugh and re-enact, further endorsing it.
Faisal Kareem, of the news channel Samaa, was also caught on camera copying the kid and laughing as if it was something hilarious.
How far back have we really fallen that we not only fail to recognize and discourage immoral gestures but also make light of the situation? Do we honestly not see the massive impact these little things can have, not just on the child’s personality and mindset but also on our society in general?
The cherry on top is remembering how last year the roles were reversed in this very setting…and the engagement it caused. Why was it so infuriating to be on the receiving end if it was merely a child being expressive? Smells like a big, fat load of hypocrisy to me.
