On Tuesday, September 13, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor shared a meme mocking the Pakistan cricket team for their substandard fielding after the recently concluded Asia Cup in which the Sri Lankan Cricket team defeated Pakistan by 23 runs in the final.
Shashi Tharoor shared a meme showing a man dressed in attire from the Mughal era trying to catch a cricket ball and dropping it. “Mughal era painting of a Pakistani fielder”, Tharoor tweeted adding that he had received the image on WhatsApp.
The Pakistani Cricket team lost to the Sri Lankan Cricket team in the Asia Cup by 23 runs. While the Pakistani team was lauded for their batting and bowling, they were chastised for their fielding after dropping a few catches in the final. Shadab Khan of Pakistan dropped two catches from the blade of Bhanuka Rajapaksa in the final, and the latter went on to play a critical 71-run innings to remain undefeated. Pakistan’s poor fielding performance spawned several jokes on social media.
While Tharoor’s tweet has attracted more than 4000 likes, many Pakistani netizens criticized the Congress MP for targeting Pakistan. One of the Twitter users wrote, “Pakistani fielder from the Mughal era? Do you mean North-West Indian fielder?”, while another said, “In a bad taste I would say! Let’s not mix these things.. let the things which happened on the field be on the field only”.
Another user named Zeeshan Ali meanwhile made fun of the Congress MP saying that though he has made an attempt to ridicule Pakistan, BJP would never accept him in the party.
User Asad Aziz Khan also mocked the Congress MP and said that Tharoor was actually talking about the Indian Cricket team but had unnecessarily slipped in Pakistanis. “Actually that pic he has shared for Indian fielders but he doesn’t have guts to say it out”, the tweet read.
Here are some similar reactions by other Pakistani Twitter users-
The Sri Lankan squad won the Asia Cup cricket event in 2022 with a resounding victory after defeating Pakistan in the finals. Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup for the sixth time, defeating Pakistan by a score of 23 runs. It was their first win since 2014. Sri Lanka appeared to be in trouble after having to bat first, losing five wickets for 58 runs, however Rajapaksa and Hasaranga joined forces for a good recovery, with Rajapaksa reaching his half-century and giving his team a fighting chance for the title.
The fielding turned out to be the ultimate difference maker in the final as Sri Lanka caught everything that came their way while Pakistan kept dropping Rajapaksa.