‘Too much crap’: Rohit Sharma says Indian players ignore social media amid Arshdeep Singh’s brutal trolling

Arshdeep Singh has not let the vicious abuse and brutal trolling on social media dampen his confidence as he looked in great spirits in India’s Super Four clash against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2022 on Tuesday. Arshdeep was targeted by trolls on social media after he dropped a sitter in India’s game against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday.

After he spilt the catch, India went on to lose the game by five wickets as Arshdeep faced horrific abuse on social media. Though he couldn’t win India the game against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, he gave his all trying to defend seven runs off the last over as India went down by six wickets to lose their second game in a row in the Super Four.

When asked about how the players deal with online abuse and trolling, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said the Indian team ignores social media. Rohit said there is too much crap happening online and lauded Arshdeep for bowling with confidence against Sri Lanka despite all the criticism after his mistake against Pakistan.

“Honestly, guys here don’t look too much into social media, these days it is too much crap happening there,” Rohit said in the post-match press conference after India’s loss against Sri Lanka.

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“Few losses here and there, a few games here and there, and one dropped catch, I do not think we look too much into it. Yes, he was himself disappointed with the catch that could have been taken but again, we saw the confidence when he came and bowled that last over, he nailed that yorker very well and got Asif Ali out. So that shows, if he was down and out, if you are not mentally there, execution doesn’t happen,” he added.

Arshdeep was tasked to defend 7 runs off the last over against Sri Lanka on Tuesday. The young left-arm fast bowlers did well to drag the game to the penultimate ball but failed to stop Sri Lanka from chasing down the target. Nonetheless, he earned plaudits for his valiant effort in the game.

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Praising Arshdeep for the character he has shown despite facing massive criticism after the Pakistan clash, Rohit said he has not seen many youngsters as talented and confident as Arshdeep.

“The reason being, it’s pretty simple, he is very clear in his mind. He is a confident lad, I have not seen many guys like that in their early days, he is very confident, he wants to do well and he is quite hungry for success. It is a good sign, even Rahul Bhai will tell you, we are very happy with how he takes his game and approaches it,” said the Indian captain.

India’s chances of qualifying for the final of the Asia Cup 2022 are now slim after their back-to-back defeats against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India can make it to the final only if Pakistan lose their remaining two matches and the Men in Blue register a big win against Afghanistan.