NEW DELHI: It's been three days since India lost to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, but tensions continue to flare on social media. In the latest episode, Harbhajan Singh and got involved in a  feud late on Tuesday night.

Former Indian cricketer Harbajan Singh has released a YouTube video on his official channel to put an end to his ugly Twitter banter with Pakistani player Mohammad Amir. 

Singh in his video not just spoke about his recent controversial interview with Shoiab Akhtar but also asked Amir to ‘get lost’ after he took a nasty dig at the former Indian spinner.

Twitter banter

It all began with Amir tagging Singh in a Twitter post asking if he broke his television after India lost the first Super 12 match against Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup on Sunday.

To this Singh reminded the Pakistani bowler of the time when he had hit him for a six leading India to victory.

Taking the juvenile banter further, Amir sharing an old video mocked Singh for the time Shahid Afridi had hit him for four sixes in an over.

Finally, Singh calling Amir a ‘fixer’ asked him to get lost from his timeline. “Get lost I feel yuk talking to people like you for insulting this game and making people fool with ur acts,” Singh Tweeted telling that all Amir cared about was money and not the game or his supporters.

Pakistani journalist attacks Singh for his faith

Reacting to Singh’s ‘fixer ko sixer’ Tweet, Sumaira Khan, a Pakistani journalist attacked the former Indian cricketer over his religion.

Calling Singh a ‘cry baby,’ Khan said, “The entire #Sikh community would feel ashamed of you for this dirty comment….”

Amir’s ‘fixing scandal’

The most controversial fixing scandal had shocked the cricketing world in August 2010. In a major embarrassment for Pakistan, a 35-year-old Mazher Majeed was arrested for spot-fixing during an England vs Pakistan Test match series. Majeed was a player agent who was caught claiming to have bribed a couple of Pakistani cricketers to deliberately bowl no-balls on demand.

Reportedly, Majeed had accepted huge sums of money to spot-fix the Pakistani bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif to bowl no-balls at pre-decided moments during the match.

Post the investigation, the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) tribunal had barred Amir from playing any form of cricket for half a decade.

Harbhajan Singh releases a video

Ending the rather unwarranted Twitter war, Singh released a video on Wednesday clearing his stand. Singh began the video by congratulating both the Indian and Pakistani cricket teams for their performance. 

Talking about his interactions with Akhtar, Singh clarified that the two have a long history of playing against each other for their respective countries and representing them in the media. “Shoiab and I have a long history of interactions and association. We both represent our countries in media and support them wholeheartedly. But who is Amir?” said Singh in his video. 

Reiterating the exchange of heated words on Twitter, Singh emphasized Amir’s match-fixing scandal, calling him a traitor. 

“For some money, you sold your team and even your nation. Who are you to even tell me anything? We all saw what you did at Lord’s by deliberately delivering no balls to make your team lose. You are nothing but a traitor,” remarked Singh.

“You have a few local media supporting you. Even they have no shame supporting a traitor like you. This exposes the standard of journalism in Pakistan. You are nothing but a ‘jaahil’. Please get lost,” said Singh further dedicating a four-line condescending poem to the Pakistani cricketer. 

Advising Amir to simply support his country and not get into any unnecessary controversies or interfere, Singh ended his video by cheering for Team India. 

“Bharat ki team zindabad thi, zindabad hai aur zindabad rahegi,” concluded Singh wishing the team all the best for their next match against New Zealand. 

In a conversation with Aaj Tak, Harbhajan urged Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to open a school for people like Amir where they can learn the way to talk to senior players.

"I would request Imran Khan to open a school for such children where they can learn how to speak to senior cricketers. In our country, we are taught manners. Even today, we talk with cricketers like Wasim Akram with a lot of respect. And people like him (Amir) don't know what to talk with whom. I should not have reacted to the comments of a person who sold his country," Harbhajan said.

Communal bigotry of Pakistani players

This is not the first time the Pakistani cricket players have displayed their blatant bigotry and hatred for Indians, especially Hindus. 

We reported how Waqar Younis said that it was very special for him when Mohammad Rizwan recited Namaz in front of Hindus during India versus Pakistan match at the T20 World Cup.

Prior to this, Shoiab Akhtar had brazenly supported and endorsed the two-nation theory on religious and communal lines. 

References:

timesofindia.indiatimes.com - ANI
timesnownews.com - TN Sports Desk
indianexpress.com - Sports Desk
Opindia.com - OpIndia Staff