New Delhi, June 5: As Indian Cricket Team was readying itself for their opening game against South Africa in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, it's head coach Ravi Shastri faced backlash on the social media.
Shastri, the former India all-rounder, came underfire on the micro-blogging site Twitter after posing with two women in a photograph.
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Australian journalist Dennis Freedman, who's made several controversial statements against Indian cricketers in the past, took to Twitter to mock India's Head Coach and their World Cup preparations.
"India's World Cup preparations appear to be going well," Freedman captioned the image in which Shastri could be seen posing with young female fans.
India's World Cup preparations appear to be going well pic.twitter.com/24NCfFNqO3
— Jai Hindennis (@DennisCricket_) June 4, 2019
Even Indian fans agreed with the Australian's observation and criticised the 57-year-old.
An Indian fan wrote on Freedman's post, "Fielding at fine leg." Another one wrote: "We're playing both on and off the field."
Another fan wrote, "On what credentials....he was made the Coach...jus a disaster... he is."
On what credentials....he was made the Coach...jus a disaster... he is
— Shobit (@Shobit20261718) June 5, 2019
Here are a few tweets on how fans reacted to the image:
Fielding at fine leg 😋
— Dr Asim Naik (@AsimNaik) June 4, 2019
Shastri != India team.
— Dennis The Ace (@TheLegendChap) June 4, 2019
Let him have fun. No difference to the team.
Let him celebrate Eid!!
— Siddharth. .सिद्धार्थ. (@tuntungopal) June 5, 2019
Ravi Shastry is heading to answer more questions on this episode than cricket.
— arun shrivastava (@aksriv51) June 5, 2019
These pics will ask the questions if team india fails to reach the goal.
— Janardan Sharma (@janardan6660) June 5, 2019
Probably that is why they are not attending official press conferences
— azhar abbas (@azhaegee) June 4, 2019
@absolutesatya Days when john wright, gary kristen, anil kumble dignified indian dressing room are gone. Now we have this alocholic commentator as coach. "Indian cricket is at wrong hands"- ganguly was right all along.
— plabon tamuly (@plabon_tamuly) June 4, 2019
Meanwhile, Team India are playing their first WC game against South Africa. Protea skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bat at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton.
The Proteas had a miserable beginning to the tournament losing their opening two matches England and Bangladesh. While India beat Bangladesh and lost to New Zealand in the warm-up games but that does not really count for in the tournament proper.