Irfan Pathan attacked by fanatics for wearing rakhi on Rakshabandhan

New Delhi, Aug 8: Veteran India cricketer Irfan Pathan came under fire over social media, this time for posting an image wearing a rakhi on the occasion of Rakshabandhan.

Rakshabadhan, the festival of brothers and sisters, was celebrated on Monday (August 7) across India.

Several sportspersons took to their social media handles to share the pictures of their wrists tied with 'rakhi', Pathan was also amongst those.

The Baroda cricketer posted the image on his Facebook and Instagram accounts with the caption, "Happy rakshabandhan everyone #rakhi".

Unhappy with the left-arm-pacer, celebrating a festival of Hindus despite being a Muslim, several religious bigots trolled the cricketer for practicing an un-Islamic act.

They even commented on the cricketer's social media handle that he should be ashamed of himself.

Comments like, "Irfan bhai this was not expected of you", "...this is sin", "it's disgraceful", etc., were posted below Pathan's post.

Here's how the bigots reacted:

However, there were several others who supported the cricketer's humble gesture who greeted him and asserted that the festival of Rakshabandhan should not be associated with any religion for it preaches universal brotherhood and harmony.

This is not the first occasion when Irfan is facing the ire of fanatics. Earlier last month, he was attacked by bigots for posting an un-Islamic image with his wife Safa Baiga, who was not covering her face.

Safa was seen showing her face and arms for which the fans mocked Irfan for being a Pathan and still failing to ask his wife to cover her face and arms and also for allowing her to wear nail polish.

Irfan posted the photo with his wife on his official Facebook account and it read: "This girl is trouble."

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