Mohammed Shami was not very happy when he saw the photo of Mitchell Marsh putting feet on the World Cup trophy during the celebration inside the dressing room. Australia captain Pat Cummins had put that picture up on his Instagram Stories and it was picked up by Indian fans who said that this was an insult to the silverware. The fans in India are saying that this trophy is garlanded here and to see a feet being put on it is very disappointing.
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There are others who are defending Marsh by saying that disrespecting a World Cup trophy by putting a feet on it, is an Indian idea. In Australians culture, this thought does not exist and this was a way of Marsh to say that that the world was at his feet now.
Amid the many different reactions that have poured in since the controversial act by Marsh, one Indian player from the World Cup squad has reacted to the incident. Mohammed Shami, speaking to a group of journalists in India, said that he was hurt to see the trophy being treated like that.
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“I am hurt. The trophy for which all the teams in the world fight, the trophy which you want to lift over your head, keeping a foot on that trophy did not make me happy,” said Shami.
The India pacer picked most wickets in the World Cup. In just 7 games, he finished with 24 wickets. After the loss in the final, the team was looking very upset as they had played dominant cricket uptill then. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul were all very sad after the loss. Prime Minister Narendra Modi entered the dressing room to pass on some motivational words to players. His act was not welcomed by the members of the opposition parties who criticised him. But Shami says that Modi’s words helped players recover from the loss.
“It was very important. At that time, we had lost the match. In such a situation, when the Prime Minister encourages you, it creates a different moment. When your morale is low, having your PM with you boosts confidence” Shami said on PM speaking to the players immediately after the final loss. Shami did not want to get into politics and urged people to talk about their cricket instead of talking about the politics when it comes to discussing the sport and the performance of the team.