{"id":107473,"date":"2025-09-01T18:40:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/107473\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T18:40:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:40:06","slug":"salman-and-haris-deserve-support-not-social-media-trolling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/107473\/","title":{"rendered":"Salman and Haris deserve support, not social media trolling"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The interviewer asked: \u201cDo you think Babar Azam should change his T20 batting style?\u201d

\nMohammad Haris replied: \u201cYes.\u201d
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Next question came: \u201cFaster or slower?\u201d

\nHaris answered: \u201cFaster.\u201d
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I saw this clip where Haris was giving short responses in a rapid-fire style Q&A. On the surface, there was nothing extraordinary about it. But Babar Azam\u2019s loyal fans and social media army created an uproar. They trolled Mohammad Haris so badly that the poor guy has become frustrated.\u00a0
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\u201cLook at yourself, how do you bat? How could you say this about Babar? Don\u2019t you know how to respect your senior?\u201d and so on.
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First of all, we live in a free country where everyone has the right to express their opinion respectfully. That interview wasn\u2019t recorded yesterday \u2014 the clip just recently went viral. If something was said in a lighthearted, joking manner, why make a storm out of it? If that\u2019s the standard, then neither you nor I should ever criticize a cricketer, because we haven\u2019t played 100 Tests either.
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This is exactly our problem: even in politics, we\u2019ve put some people on a pedestal where no criticism is tolerated. And if someone dares to speak against them, social media unleashes hell on that person. Babar is a cricketer, but for some fans, their devotion to him is so extreme that they cannot stand a single word of criticism.
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No doubt, he is the biggest star of the current era. Talking about him guarantees more views. Now that Twitter (X) is monetized, if you have a friend abroad, you can link their account and earn money \u2014 but for that, you need views. So praise Babar, post a video, and earn dollars. YouTubers do the same. Since Pakistani accounts are banned in India, the only way left to make money is by talking about Babar.
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This isn\u2019t new. Even years ago, when Wasim Akram commented on Babar\u2019s batting style, he too was heavily trolled \u2014 despite being a far greater cricketer with world records to his name.<\/p>\n

You must have seen how Mohammad Haris smashed his bat in frustration after getting out against the UAE. There were still four overs left \u2014 what century could he possibly have scored? It was frustration that made him react that way. Social media these days has a huge impact on players. Yes, Haris is out of form, but don\u2019t forget at which batting number he is playing. If you don\u2019t like a player, drop him from the team \u2014 but no one has the right to damage his mental health.
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Even with Salman Ali Agha, fans haven\u2019t behaved well. Did he make himself captain? Did he oust Babar from captaincy or the team? No! The board gave him that responsibility. He\u2019s not an Indian cricketer \u2014 he\u2019s Pakistani. Support him.
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People compare his strike rate or average with Babar\u2019s, but one thing needs to be clear: players like Babar Azam are rare. You can\u2019t really compare anyone to him. However, any player can suffer from poor form. Just because Babar is out of form today doesn\u2019t mean it will last forever. He can come back and score heaps of runs again. But in the meantime, don\u2019t treat the current players as enemies. This isn\u2019t \u201cBabarestan\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s Pakistan\u2019s team.
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Remember, when we lost to Zimbabwe, Ireland, Afghanistan, and even the USA, Babar was also in the team. Losses happened then too. Times have changed \u2014 modern T20 cricket requires aggressive batting. Young players need opportunities if they are to perform. Look at Hasan Nawaz \u2014 given chances, and now he\u2019s thriving. Similarly, Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub have proved themselves. Salman Ali Agha is performing better too.
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I\u2019ve spoken to several players and officials \u2014 all say the current team is united and fully supportive of one another. We should do the same. Believe me, within a few months, these same players will start bringing consistent victories. Loving one player doesn\u2019t mean hating another. They\u2019re all our own. Yesterday someone else was the star, today it\u2019s someone new, tomorrow it will be another. Give them time. Once they\u2019ve played 100\u2013200 matches, then compare performances fairly. Right now, it isn\u2019t justified.
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These cricketers belong to new generation \u2014 like all, they also spend free time scrolling on mobile phones. When they see comparisons and negative clips about themselves, they lose confidence. You can\u2019t expect anyone today to stay away from social media. Even if a player isn\u2019t active online, family or friends still send them these clips saying, \u201cLook what\u2019s being said about you.\u201d Does that increase their confidence \u2014 or decrease it?
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Trolling our own players achieves nothing. If performance isn\u2019t good, by all means criticize, but choose your words carefully. Unless someone can guarantee that bringing back a certain player will make Pakistan the No.1 team, criticism should be fair \u2014 and before demanding a player\u2019s return, look at their past stats too. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL The interviewer asked: \u201cDo you think Babar Azam should change his T20 batting style?\u201d …\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[29233,1721,26817,48408,20453,36950,52217,101,24788,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-107473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-babar-azam","9":"tag-cricket","10":"tag-cricket-pakistan","11":"tag-mohammad-haris","12":"tag-pakistan-cricket","13":"tag-salman-ali-agha","14":"tag-social-media-trolling","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-t20-cricket","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}