Harbhajan Singh slams fans for trolling Australian players & their families

NEW DELHI: Following India's upsetting loss in the ODI World Cup 2023 final against Australia on Sunday, former 'Men in Blue' spinner Harbhajan Singh asked cricket fans not to troll Aussie cricketers and their family members.

Harbhajan took to his official X (formerly Twitter) account and wrote that trolling family members of the World Cup winner is completely in bad taste.

He also added that they lost to a better team in the final but the cricket fans should not troll others for it. He concluded by saying that sanity and dignity are more important. "Reports of trolling of family members of Australian cricket players is completely in bad taste. We played well but lost the final to better cricket by the Aussies. That's it. Why troll the players and their families? Requesting all cricket fans to stop such behaviour. Sanity and dignity are more important," Harbhajan wrote on X.

Following India's loss against Australia, many cricket fans trolled family members of Australian cricketers on their social media accounts. This was also highlighted by Vini Raman the wife of Australian all-rounder Glen Maxwell.

"Can't belive this needs to saud BUT you can be Indian and also support the country of your birth where you have bee raised and more importantly the team your husbanbd + father of your child plays in #nobrainer. Take a chill pill and direct that outrage towards more important issuue" she said in her Instagram post. Australian cricketer Mitchell Marsh was also trolled on social media for posting an image of himself with his feet on the World Cup Trophy.

Coming to the match, India bundled out on a score of 240 in 50 overs. On a tough batting surface, skipper Rohit Sharma (47 in 31 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes), Virat Kohli (54 in 63 balls, with four boundaries) and KL Rahul (66 in 107 balls, with one four) posted important knocks. Mitchell Starc (3/55) was the pick of the bowlers for Australia.

Skipper Pat Cummins (2/34) and Josh Hazlewood (2/60) also bowled well. Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell got a wicket each. While chasing 241, India had the Aussies down at 47/3. Knocks from Travis Head (137 in 120 balls, with 15 fours and four sixes) and Marnus Labuschagne (58 in 110 balls, with four boundaries) left the Indian team without answers and guided them to a six-wicket win.

The World Cup finalists will now compete in a five-match T20I series which will begin on Thursday in Visakhapatnam.